Jarred Vanderbilt has been ruled out for at least two more weeks by the Los Angeles Lakers due to his left heel bursitis. 

The Lakers have started Taurean Prince in the first two games of the season.

Vanderbilt signed with the Lakers in the offseason on a four-year, $48 million extension.

The NBA Opening Night doubleheader averaged 2.78 million viewers on TNT, marking the lowest viewership in nine years.

The number also represented a 16% decline from last year's opening games.

The Lakers-Nuggets game averaged 2.84 million viewers, making it LeBron James' least-watched season opener since 2008.

The Suns-Warriors game averaged 2.71 million viewers.

The two games matched up against Game 7 of the Diamondbacks-Phillies National League Championship Series, which averaged 8.99 million viewers.

LeBron James played only 29 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakes season-opening loss at the Denver Nuggets. Following the game, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said that's the plan for this season.

"It's easy with him to get caught up in the emotion of the game and you tend to forget you want to play these long stretches, but in order for him to be as effective as possible, we have to be mindful of the minute output and how long his stretches are," Ham said.

Ham said the plan is to limit James to 28-30 minutes per game, but that it would be a "day-by-day process". For his part, James wasn't "surprised or upset" by the relatively low minutes he played.

"Listen, I mean, I always want to be on the floor. Especially when you got an opportunity to win a game or you feel like you can make an impact," James said. "But this is the system in place and I'm going to follow it."

The Los Angeles Lakers fifth starter is considered to be somewhat of a flexible spot. Taurean Prince will get the first shot at filling the role on opening night. Prince was signed by Los Angeles as a free agent this offseason.

Prince will join holdover LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell in the starting lineup against the Denver Nuggets. However, Lakers coach Darvin Ham cautioned reading too much into that.

Ham said Prince starting was "circumstantial". Jarred Vanderbilt remains in the mix to reclaim the starting role he had after joining Los Angeles at last season's trade deadline. Ham said Vanderbilt is out for the opener "in all likelihood" due to a heel injury.

The Los Angeles Lakers signed Quinndary Weatherspoon, his agent told Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

Weatherspoon last appeared in 11 games for the Warriors during the 2021-22 season.

Weatherspoon averaged 15.5 points on 40% shooting from 3 in two preseason games against NBA teams. 

The Los Angeles Lakers are signing Louis King, reported Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

King appeared in one game for the Sixers last season.

King averaged 16.5 points and 5.0 assists in the G League. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have requested waivers on forward Vincent Valerio-Bodon and guards Damion Baugh and Scotty Pippen Jr.

Valerio-Bodon recently appeared in one preseason game with the Lakers, recording two rebounds and one block in 5.0 minutes.

Baugh played in one preseason game with Los Angeles, collecting one rebound in 5.5 minutes.

Pippen appeared in two contests this preseason for the purple and gold, posting averages of 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 15.7 minutes per game.

LeBron James will sit out of the Los Angeles Lakers' exhibition opener against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

"Six preseason games, so hopefully I can get to at least half of them. But we'll see. I think every game will dictate it. I will not be playing in Saturday's game, that's for sure, in the Bay. But we'll see after that," said James.

Darvin Ham stated that James, who is the oldest active player in the NBA, is "100 percent healthy" entering the season.

Ham added that the upgraded roster will help lessen James' workload this upcoming season.

"The fact that our roster is what it is, he doesn't have to come start the season with his cape on, so to speak. ... The help that he has around him will allow him to not have to be full throttle in every practice and every preseason game," said Ham.