Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Seerat Sohi of SB Nation (@SeeratSohi) discuss the Raptors and Lakers.

They talk about Toronto’s adjustments with new personnel and Nick Nurse as head coach, their potential this season, the Lakers’ figuring out who fits best with LeBron James and much more.

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Rajon Rondo again denied that he intentionally spit at Chris Paul during Saturday's altercation.

Rondo again pointed to the fact that he was wearing a mouthguard, which would impact his ability to intentionally spit on someone.

"This is the only time I'm going to address this," Rondo told ESPN on Tuesday. "I had a mouthpiece in my mouth and I [was] exasperated because I was about to tell him to 'get the [expletive] out of here.'

"Look at my body language [in the video]. My hands on my hips. I turn away for a second. Look at Eric [Gordon] and Melo [Carmelo Anthony] in the video. If they saw me spit, they would have turned their face up or something. They had no reaction."

Paul said he took pride in "staying as poised as possible" during the incident.

"Y'all are playing me with these tricks or these mind games, tampering with the evidence," Rondo told ESPN on Tuesday. "Ain't no way that I intentionally spit on you with my body language the way it was.

"One, if I spit on you, bottom line, there is not going to be no finger-pointing. If you felt that I just spit on you, then all bets are off. Two, look at my body language. If I spit on you on purpose, I'm going to be ready for a man to swing on me. You ain't going to have my hands on my hip and my head look away at someone if I spit on them. After the [expletive] goes down, within 30 seconds, you run and tell the sideline reporters that I spit on you? If I spit on you, you are trying to get to me. You not trying to make up a story so you can look like a good guy. It makes no sense to me.

"I was going to let it rest. I wasn't going to say much. But now I have kids and I teach my kids to speak up for themselves and don't let the world tell their story."

Rondo questioned Paul's image created by the NBA.

"Of course, the NBA went with his side because I got three games and he got two," Rondo told ESPN. "Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy. They don't know he's a horrible teammate. They don't know how he treats people. Look at what he did last year when he was in L.A.; trying to get to the Clippers' locker room. They don't want to believe he's capable of taunting and igniting an incident.

" ... He comes out and says I spit and the media sides with that."

The Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 0-3 with their 143-142 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs. 

"It's not tough," James said after the loss. "I know what I got myself into. It's a process. I get it. And it will be fine.

"So, I didn't come here thinking we were going to be blazing storms right out of the gate. It's a process, and I understand that."

The Lakers have been competitive in all three games, which came up against teams that reached the playoffs last season in the Western Conference.

The Lakers next play the Suns.

"We're going to continue to get better," James said. "We're going to continue to get better. I like the direction we're going in. Obviously, it's not resulting in the wins right now, but it's such a long process."

Anthony Davis will be eligible for a supermax contract this offseason, which will go a long ways to determining what the future of the NBA holds depending on whether he chooses to sign it.

If Davis decides not to sign the extension, the New Orleans Pelicans could look to trade him.

"My sense has always been with Anthony that he is always: some players are looking for reasons to stay and some players are looking for reasons to leave," said Adrian Wojnarowski on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Show. "I've always thought that Anthony is a guy looking for reasons to stay in New Orleans. And I think that will continue to be the case until he feels he's out of them.

"I do think down the line that the Boston and L.A., if he became available, that will be interesting, especially if the Lakers get shut out this summer."

The NBA has suspended Brandon Ingram for four games for his part in Saturday's altercation between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.

Rajon Rondo received a two-game suspension while Chris Paul will be suspended for two games.

The following was released by the NBA:

Ingram has been suspended for aggressively returning to and escalating the altercation and throwing a punch in the direction of Paul, confronting a game official in a hostile manner, and instigating the overall incident by shoving Rockets guard James Harden.  Rondo has been suspended for instigating a physical altercation with, and spitting and throwing multiple punches at, Paul.  Paul has been suspended for poking at and making contact with the face of Rondo, and throwing multiple punches at him.  

Paul will begin serving his suspension tonight when the Rockets face the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. Ingram and Rondo will begin serving their suspensions on Mon., Oct 22, when the Lakers host the San Antonio Spurs.  

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed forward Johnathan Williams to a two-way contract.

In a related move, the Lakers have requested waivers on forward Travis Wear.

Williams (6-9, 230) played in all six preseason games for the Lakers, averaging 6.8 points (.516 FG%) and 4.3 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game.

LeBron James had 26 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and six turnovers in his first regular season game with the Los Angeles Lakers, which they lost at the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I liked our fight to get back into the game when we were down double digits, I liked the way we competed at times, I liked the way we shared the ball as well,” James said. “Those were all positive. … There’s some things that we could do better. We can rebound a lot better, we had some turnovers, which I expected. Us just trying to get a feel for one another.”

“Glad he’s on our team,” Luke Walton said. “He’s pretty good at the game of basketball.”

Paul George revealed he would have signed with the Los Angeles Lakers had he never been traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bit George said he fell in love with the Thunder and playing with Russell Westbrook. George re-signed with the Thunder on a four-year, $137 million contract.

"It was 50-50 on deciding whether I wanted to come back home or if it was smarter to be in the situation I am in now," George told The Undefeated. "But it wasn't overstated. I wanted to play in L.A. That is where I wanted to go. Had that trade never went down, had I played one more year in Indy, I would have been in a Lakers uniform."

The Lakers hoped to meet with George in free agency, but he instead quickly re-signed with the Thunder.

George said he spoke with LeBron James about his possible future plans before his trade to the Thunder, but they never had a similar conversation afterward.

"Going toward the summer and going toward free agency, I kind of had my mind made up talking with the team, talking with Russ and talking with the front-office," George said. "I kind of felt good where we were at. Last [season], I didn't get a chance to start with this team fresh. I got traded late. So, I picked up things late with the team. I wanted to get to it right away this time and start creating early."

Kyle Kuzma has signed an endorsement deal with GOAT, a shoe reseller that specializes in rare and unique sneakers.

Kuzma will wear rare shoes provided by the company.

GOAT calls the deal the "first athlete partnership with a sneaker reselling platform."

Kuzma was an All-Rookie selection in 17-18.

The Los Angeles Lakers have exercised their team options for the 2019-20 season on Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.

Ball earned Second Team All-Rookie honors in 2017-18, appearing in 52 games (50 starts) and averaging 10.2 points, 7.2 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 34.2 minutes.

In 63 games (23 starts) last season, Hart notched eight double-doubles and averaged 7.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 23.2 minutes, closing out the season with four-straight 20-point games.

Ingram played in 59 games (all starts), scoring a team-high-tying 16.1 points (.470 FG%) per game, adding 5.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 33.5 minutes.

A First Team All-Rookie selection last season, Kuzma appeared in 77 games (37 starts) and finished fifth all-time among Lakers rookies in scoring (1,242 points), tallying a team-high-tying 16.1 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 31.2 minutes.