Without him, the expected Warriors starting 5 gets small and young fast: Stephen Curry, the newly extended Brandin Podziemski, Draymond Green, rookie Yaxel Lendeborg and Gui Santos. Curry looks ready. He went into the second half of a preseason game for the first time in the finale, playing a preseason-high 23 minutes for 11 points with 3 threes. The board has Los Angeles as a comfortable home favorite, which is a fair way to price a healthy Doncic against a frontcourt running on Draymond and a rookie.
The matchup to watch is size. The Lakers went out and got Kessler and Looney, 2 bigs who rebound and protect the rim, and if Porzingis sits, Golden State has no answer at that spot beyond Green giving up inches. That's how a Doncic team should win this game: put Kessler in pick-and-roll, make the Warriors' small lineup guard it, and live on the offensive glass. The counter for Golden State is the one it has run for a decade: Curry running off screens until somebody on a brand-new defense misses a switch.
Ignore the exhibitions if you want, but the Warriors beat the Lakers in both preseason meetings, and LA finished the preseason 2-3. Preseason scores don't count, and neither team was showing its full rotation. Still, it's a reminder that Golden State has the continuity edge here: Curry, Green and Kerr know exactly what they want to run, and the Lakers will still be learning names on Wednesday, October 21.
Tipoff is 7:00 PM PT. Watch the Porzingis news between now and then. It's the one thing that can change what this game looks like before the ball goes up, and Kerr hasn't committed either way.