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The Miami Heat and LA Lakers will begin their Summer League schedules with a contest against one another in the California Classic, hosted by the Sacramento Kings, on Tuesday (August 3).
Summer League games are the perfect opportunity for undrafted prospects and for those who have dropped out of the NBA but who wish to earn another contract to prove their worth. Both the LA Lakers and Miami Heat will compete in the California Classic and the MGM Resorts Summer League tournament later in August.
Match Details
Fixture - LA Lakers vs Miami Heat | California Classic Summer League
Date & Time - Tuesday, August 3rd; 8:00 PM ET (Wednesday, August 4th; 5:30 AM IST).
Venue - Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
LA Lakers Preview
Despite the LA Lakers trading away their first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft in the Russell Westbrook blockbuster trade, they did obtain two players on two-way contracts for the new season - guard Austin Reaves and center Joel Ayayi. All eyes will be on the highly-touted stars, who have earned the roster spots of Kostas Antetokounmpo and Devontae Cacok.
Also check out: NBA Summer League 2021 Schedule
Cacok will also be important to the LA Lakers' hopes of winning either Summer League tournament this month and has already been putting in the work to prove he has what it takes to make it in the NBA.
Elsewhere on the roster, the LA Lakers have given opportunities to ten other undrafted young players, as well as point guard Justin Robinson, who played 18 games for the Washington Wizards in the last two seasons.
Key Player - Austin Reaves
ESPN ranked Austin Reaves as the second-best player to go undrafted this year and for good reason. In his final year of college, the 6'5" guard averaged 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists for Oklahoma.
Reaves was projected to be a top-40 pick but chose to bypass the draft so that he could choose which team he would land with. The LA Lakers were the lucky franchise to land the 23-year-old and will hope that he can replicate the kind of performances that Alex Caruso brought to the team.
He has some personality similarities to the former Lakers guard as he has incredible confidence in his ability and is a very creative offensive weapon. His speed and ball-handling makes him difficult to defend and he could well be one of the standout performers of this year's Summer League competitions.
LA Lakers Predicted Lineup
Point Guard - Austin Reaves l Shooting Guard - Joel Ayayi l Small Forward - Devontae Cacok l Power Forward - Yoeli Childs l Center - Romaro Gill
Miami Heat Preview
Since the Miami Heat did not have a single draft pick this year, their summer league team is built around undrafted players and a few familiar faces.
Members of the Heat's roster this year - KZ Okpala, Gabe Vincent and Precious Achiuwa - were all still on their way back from representing Nigeria at this summer's Olympics when the team trained on Sunday afternoon.
However, Achiuwa's availability is currently unknown since the Miami Heat traded him to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night to bring in point guard Kyle Lowry.
Max Strus, who also played for the Miami Heat last season and earned a two-way contract just days ago, is expected to lead the team in their Summer League games. He may have competition for his place, though, as the Heat focused their undrafted player selections on bringing onboard more wing shooting and some depth in the backcourt.
Key Player - Max Strus
Strus will be looking to impress in the NBA Summer League competitions to earn more minutes on the Miami Heat roster next season. Having torn his ACL in his first campaign in the league with the Chicago Bulls and hindered by COVID-19 this year, Strus has played in just 41 games over two seasons.
There may be an opportunity for Strus to step up, though, with the Miami Heat parting ways with both Trevor Ariza and Andre Iguodala from the frontcourt already this summer. He averaged six points off of 45% shooting from the field in 39 games but played just 13 minutes in each encounter.
Miami Heat Predicted Lineup
Point Guard - Marcus Garrett l Shooting Guard - AJ Lawson l Small Forward - Max Strus l Power Forward - Micah Potter l Center - Omer Yurtseven
LA Lakers vs Miami Heat Match Prediction
Since there is very little to base our predictions on for this exciting Summer League opener, we can only hope to see some good basketball and some promising play.
The LA Lakers have two of the top undrafted prospects playing this summer and a former NBA champion in Devontae Cacok. Therefore, they may be able to edge this encounter. For the Miami Heat, we won't see their full-strength Summer League side until their roster is complete with those who competed at the Olympics.
Where to watch the LA Lakers vs Miami Heat Summer League matchup
All of the California Classic Summer League games will be broadcast in America, with this matchup being shown on ESPN2. It can be viewed on TV or via ESPN's streaming platforms.
