NEW YORK — After having unfavorable results in their City Edition jerseys leading up to Saturday, the Lakers made a uniform change a few hours before their marquee road game against the New York Knicks.
The Lakers were scheduled to wear their purple and black “California Destiny” jerseys – the first jersey in franchise history to say “Lake Show” across the chest – on Saturday at Madison Square Garden before opting to play in their purple Statement Edition jerseys.
The last time the Lakers wore their City Edition uniforms was during Tuesday’s blowout road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, which continued an unlucky trend for the Lakers when they’ve played in those uniforms.
The Lakers are 1-9 in their City Edition uniforms, which they’re scheduled to wear eight more times during the regular season, including Thursday’s home game against the Golden State Warriors.
“I was informed that that was the case – I’m just hopeful that we’re wearing matching jerseys and matching shorts,” coach JJ Redick quipped pregame about the uniform change. “I don’t really care what color the jerseys are.”
FULLER ROTATION
Dorian Finney-Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura were all available on Saturday – providing Redick to see what his team looks like with the trio playing in the same game for the first time.
“Again, the rotation a lot of times and the lineups are opponent specific,” Redick said pregame. “So, I’m glad Rui, Doe, Gabe [Vincent] and [LeBron James] as well are all going to be available. And Austin [Reaves] got a haircut, so, I’m also excited about that.”
Vincent was back in the Lakers’ rotation after missing the previous three games because of a bruised left knee injury he suffered in the Jan. 25 win over the Warriors.
Finney-Smith sat out of Thursday’s road win over the Washington Wizards because of a bruised right shoulder that he suffered during Tuesday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
FAVORITE ARENA
Despite Saturday being the end of a trip that had the Lakers away from Southern California for 10 days, Redick was notably energetic pregame.
Lakers-Knicks concluded the Lakers’ non-Southern California portion of their six-game “Grammy” trip, with the Lakers playing the Clippers on Tuesday at Intuit Dome.
“I’m juiced right now. We’re all juiced right now. It’s Lakers-Knicks on a Saturday night. Like. come on. There’s nothing better. I’m juiced. And every time I played in Madison Square Garden, I was juiced. My favorite place to play. No offense to anywhere else, this is, I think most players, there’s something special about this place. And I was no different. I loved playing here.”
Redick was so “juiced” that he was quick with his response when asked about a relevant trivia question: which three visiting players entered Saturday with the best winning percentage at Madison Square Garden?
“LeBron James, Richard Jefferson, myself… Richard informed me,” Redick said. “I wouldn’t have known that. I know my shooting splits, though – 47/43. I don’t know what the free throws were, but 43% from 3 for my career here. That’s pretty good. One of my coaches told me that [on Friday].”