According a Mike Bresnahan tweet, the Los Angeles Lakers will start the season with three games in three days. The Lakers will play against the Chicago Bulls in one of the Christmas Day showcase games, at the Sacramento Kings on December 26 and against the Utah Jazz on December 27.
↵The only solace the Lakers can take from playing such an unorthodox early schedule is that there won't be much traveling involved between playing two games at home and one quick trip to Sacramento. But it does mean that the first three games of Andrew Bynum's five-game suspension will be knocked out quickly.
↵The lockout will make for plenty of moments like this for all the teams around the league as the league tries to stuff as many games as it can into its truncated season. Each team will play 66 games and the Lakers should be happy to get this type of wrinkle in the schedule out of the way early. Better to do it now than during a time when they'll be fighting for playoff position.
↵A new coach, trade rumors and the likelihood that this will be one of Kobe Bryant's final seasons as an elite player in the league make for an intriguing, storyline-filled Lakers season that is finally upon us.
↵For more on the Lakers offseason, click here.