Hello, Lakers Nation. Welcome in to the Lakers Nation.com podcast. My name's Trevor Lane, and it's game day. Lakers Mavs tonight, 7 p.m. Pacific time. Hope you come hang out with us for the game. We'll be live right here on the Lakers Nation.com YouTube channel, doing a little play-by-play, breaking down the game as it happens. As I always say, it's like a party. So come hang out. Lakers, Mavs, tonight.

The final game of the group stage of the NBA as it happens, as I always say, it's like a party. So come hang out Lakers Mavs tonight.

The final game of the group stage of the NBA Cup tournament for both the Lakers.

And the Mazz will take a look at what this game means. What's actually on the line for

the Lakers in this one. Of course, it also counts as a regular season game. Also need to get

into the injury report and what the keys are for the Lakers to get this

win tonight.

Before we dive into everything, quick reminder, do subscribe over on the YouTube channel as

well as the podcast feed on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you're not sure where to find it, just search Lakers Nation.

You can find the show.

I sure would love to get some more five-star reviews over on Apple Podcasts. All right. Let's get into it. Let's start with the

injury update here, which is a little surprising in a good way and in a bad way. So here's what's

going on with the Lakers on the injury front. We've got right now DeAndre Aiton listed as probable to play. When we didn't know if he was going to be available, J.G. Reddick said hopefully by the end of the weekend. So that had suggested that maybe DeAndre Aton would be out for this game against the maps. No, the fact that he's listed as probable, it's a good sign that DA will be available to play.

In this one, you never know, right?

It's not 100%, but still probable, pretty good sign that DA will be making his return after missing last game

and could certainly use him because the Mavs are going to offer a pretty big front line,

especially in just a moment.

We're going to get into the Mavs injury report,

and a certain someone is all but sure to play against the Lakers making a big return. Now,

the surprise here is not just the pleasant surprise of DeAndre Aitin being looking like he's

back in action, but also Marcus Smart being listed as questionable due to back spasms. So smart questionable due to back spasms, that's certainly not what you'd want to see for this matchup for the Lakers. Smart has been a very important part of the Lakers rotation. I've been saying that he needs to be in the starting lineup. But regardless, whether he's coming off the bench or if he's starting, he is somebody who is important to the Lakers, especially to their defense,

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