Good morning. Both Los Angeles NBA teams open their seasons tonight: the Lakers against Golden State at 7 on ESPN, and the Clippers against Sacramento at 7:30 on ClipperVision. On Tuesday, the LA Kings won for the first time this season, 5-2 in Washington, after starting 0-4-2. The rest of the night didn’t go as well. Tampa Bay beat the Golden Knights 6-2, and the Ducks lost their fourth straight. The Rams signed Brandon McManus to be their third kicker in nine days. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏀 “I just want to win.” Walker Kessler is ready for the expectations that come with the Lakers — Carlos Yakimowich at UCLA Health Training Center.
🏒 Finally. Adrian Kempe scored twice and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Kings’ first win — Alex Hutton at Capital One Arena.
🏒 Streak snapped. Tampa Bay scored five in the first two periods and beat Vegas 6-2 — Steve Carp at T-Mobile Arena.
🏒 Four straight. Another slow start, and the Ducks lost 3-2 on Long Island — Zach Cavanagh at UBS Arena.
🏈 Kicker No. 3. The Rams signed Brandon McManus and put Davante Adams and Poona Ford on injured reserve — The Sporting Tribune.
🏈 “Everybody has a story to tell.” The people behind UCLA’s 6-0 turnaround — Brady Charette.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — TUESDAY
🏒 NHL: Kings 5, Capitals 2 · Lightning 6, Golden Knights 2 · Islanders 3, Ducks 2
🏒 AHL: Reign 3, Wranglers 2
🏀 OPENING NIGHT
The Lakers’ new big man knows what tonight is. “I think there’s gonna be a lot of nerves going into the game,” Walker Kessler told Carlos Yakimowich at practice. Kessler makes his regular-season debut against Golden State at 7 on ESPN at Crypto.com Arena.
He has spent training camp learning to play with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, and he knows what that means: “Always have your hands up.” On defense, he wants “a habit of overcommunicating on every possession.” And on the expectations that come with the Lakers: “I just want to win.”
The three of them have barely played together. Dončić, Reaves and Kessler shared the floor for only one half all preseason, and the Lakers went 2-3, including a 101-89 loss to the Warriors in Las Vegas after leading by 20. JJ Redick hasn’t named his starters. Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle started the preseason finale with the big three, and Quentin Grimes moved to the bench. The Lakers waived Dalton Knecht on Monday to get to 15 players.
Then the Clippers. They open at 7:30 against Sacramento at Intuit Dome after finishing the preseason with a 122-110 win over Denver, led by rookies Keaton Wagler and Baba Miller.
GO DEEPER
› Carlos Yakimowich: Walker Kessler ready to embrace Lakers’ expectations ahead of opener (The Sporting Tribune)
› Carlos Yakimowich: Lakers part ways with Dalton Knecht ahead of season opener (The Sporting Tribune)
› Carlos Yakimowich: Lakers Sunday Report: Three questions entering opening week (The Sporting Tribune)
› Grant Mona: Two Clippers rookies make their case in preseason finale win over Nuggets (The Sporting Tribune)
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🏒 THE KINGS WIN ONE
The Kings fell behind 2-0 in Washington, and it looked like loss No. 7. Then, Alex Hutton writes, they scored twice in the final 33 seconds of the first period. Adrian Kempe scored his first of the season, and Artemi Panarin scored with about two seconds left. Erik Gustafsson went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead goal, and Kempe scored again. The Kings scored three times in the last 13 minutes, and the Kempe-Panarin line with Alex Laferriere had seven points.
Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves, and Peter Laviolette called it his best game of the season. “I think we’ve been playing a lot better than our record,” Kuemper said. “Everybody’s happy,” Laviolette said. Quinton Byfield played only 2:44 before leaving with an upper-body injury and will be evaluated. The Kings are 1-4-2 and play the Islanders on Thursday.
GO DEEPER
› Alex Hutton: Kings’ offense and Kuemper step up against Capitals for first win of season (The Sporting Tribune)
🏒 A ROUGH NIGHT ELSEWHERE
Vegas ran into Tampa Bay. Mark Stone tied it 2-2 late in the first with his team-high eighth goal, but Anthony Cirelli scored twice in the second, Victor Hedman made it 5-2 and Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway. Steve Carp writes that Carter Hart allowed five goals on 14 shots through two periods. The Golden Knights are 8-3 and are no longer the league’s top team. Carp notes all eight wins have come against teams at .500 or worse. “We did do some good things. We had some chances. We just didn’t finish,” Stone said. Vegas is at St. Louis on Thursday and Columbus on Saturday.
The Ducks never led. They had led after the first period in each of their first seven games. On Long Island, Ondrej Palat, Victor Eklund and Simon Holmstrom put the Islanders up 3-1 by the first intermission. Frank Vatrano and Alex Killorn scored, and Lukáš Dostál made 22 saves, but Anaheim lost 3-2. Zach Cavanagh writes the power play is 0-for-10 over the last three games. The Ducks are 4-5-0 with four straight losses and play at New Jersey on Thursday and Philadelphia on Saturday.
GO DEEPER
› Steve Carp: Knights see three-game win streak snapped in 6-2 loss to Lightning (The Sporting Tribune)
› Zach Cavanagh: Ducks can’t overcome another slow start, handed 4th straight loss (The Sporting Tribune)
› TST Images: Lightning defeat Golden Knights, 6-2, at T-Mobile Arena (The Sporting Tribune)
🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
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Tonight’s trigger: a Lakers win. Beat Golden State and Jack in the Box gives two free tacos with any drink on Thursday. Code LETSGOLAKERS.
🏟️ TWO OPENERS, ONE WEDNESDAY
Warriors at Lakers at 7 on ESPN. Opening night, and Walker Kessler’s Lakers debut.
Kings at Clippers at 7:30 on ClipperVision. The Clippers’ opener at Intuit Dome.
Thursday: Kings at Islanders, Ducks at Devils, Golden Knights at Blues. Saturday: Michigan State at UCLA, USC at Wisconsin. Sunday: El Tráfico, and the Rams at the Raiders.
📌 AROUND THE MARKETS
The Rams’ new kicker. The Rams signed Brandon McManus, a 12-year veteran who made three field goals in Super Bowl 50 for Denver and hit 95.2% of his field goals for Green Bay in 2024. He has made 82% for his career. He replaces Blake Grupe, who tore his ACL in his only game. The Rams also put Davante Adams (hamstring) and Poona Ford (triceps) on injured reserve.
“Everybody has a story to tell.” Brady Charette goes inside the people behind UCLA’s turnaround from a three-win season to 6-0 and No. 9 under Bob Chesney, who called Nico Iamaleava’s knee injury “severe.” Michigan State comes to the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
USC heads to Madison. Holdenn Graff previews the Trojans’ trip to Wisconsin, a week after the Badgers held UCLA to 17 points. True freshman Vlad Dyakonov made his first start at Penn State on short notice. “Our deal is very process and standard oriented,” Lincoln Riley said.
The Reign got their first home win. Martin Chromiak tied it 18 seconds into the third period and won it with 2:50 left as Ontario beat Calgary 3-2.
GO DEEPER
› Rams sign veteran kicker Brandon McManus, place Davante Adams and Poona Ford on injured reserve (The Sporting Tribune)
› Brady Charette: The group behind UCLA and its remarkable turnaround this season (The Sporting Tribune)
› Holdenn Graff: “Fundamentals will triumph everything else”: USC preps for Wisconsin (The Sporting Tribune)
› Sabrina McClain: Chromiak’s game-winning goal leads Reign to first home win of the season (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21
🏀 NBA: Warriors at Lakers — Crypto.com Arena — 7:00 p.m. — ESPN
🏀 NBA: Kings at Clippers — Intuit Dome — 7:30 p.m. — ClipperVision
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California and Las Vegas — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
🏀 Warriors at Lakers, opening night — Crypto.com Arena — $121
🏀 Kings at Clippers, opening night — Intuit Dome — $21
🏈 Michigan State at UCLA — Rose Bowl (Saturday) — $39
🌴 TST TRIVIA
Brandon McManus, the Rams’ new kicker, made three field goals in Super Bowl 50. Which team did Denver beat in that game?
Answer at the bottom.
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Trivia answer: The Carolina Panthers, 24-10, in February 2016.
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