All Lakers Expert Predictions For Utah Road Match On Second Night Of Back-To-Back

No LeBron, no problem?

Hot off a win over the worst team in the league last night, your 29-26 Los Angeles Lakers will be missing their 39-year-old leader, All-Star forward LeBron James, when they touch down in Utah tonight to do battle with the 26-28 Jazz, who following an active trade deadline seem content to once again punt on their season down its home stretch.

We at All Lakers are here to answer all your burning questions.

Can Los Angeles win sans LeBron?

Per The Action Network, LA is actually a +5.5 underdog tonight, as James is taking the second night of a back-to-back set of bouts off. It will be up to LA's backcourt to step up offensively, but a key X-factor matchup worth watching is Rui Hachimura and Lauri Markkanen. I think LA will pull off yet another W.

How should the Lakers defend Lauri Markkanen?

A year removed from his All-Star 2022-33 season, the 26-year-old is proving his first performance with the Jazz was no fluke: he's averaging 23.6 points on .501/.406/.884 shooting splits, 8.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks a night. The seven-footer is a unique scorer on a solid club that, had its front office wanted to, easily could have become a play-in lock at the trade deadline. Instead, the team offloaded veteran big man Kelly Olynyk and intriguing 2022 lottery pick Ochai Agbaji, opting to punt on the season.

Markkanen is a unique scorer, and by far the Jazz's best player. Hachimura will start out on this assignment with Jarred Vanderbilt on the shelf, but look for Anthony Davis to spend some time on him, too.

How much could Jordan Clarkson help his old team right now?

He is missed! The 2021 Sixth Man of the Year is still scoring in bunches this season, but his jumper has abandoned him beyond the arc. The 6'3" combo guard is averaging 17.4 points on .415/.298/.878 shooting splits, 4.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 0.6 steals a night, while splitting his time between Utah's starters and its bench. LA could use someone who can create for himself off the bench, and hopefully that's what Spencer Dinwiddie can provide. Dinwiddie is also a better distributor than Clarkson.