Kyle Kuzma is set to make his season debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks.

Kuzma, who is recovering from an ankle injury suffered during Team USA training camp, practiced with the team on Thursday.

Frank Vogel said that Kuzma will have a minutes restriction on Friday.

"[The training staff is] saying around 20 minutes. So there'll be a little bit of a restriction there," said Vogel. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have assigned forward Kyle Kuzma to the South Bay Lakers for practice on a rehab assignment.

Kuzma will practice with South Bay, and then be re-assigned to Los Angeles immediately after practice.

The NBA had concerns that the focus many fans have on following transactions rather than the games, but that has changed so far in 19-20 with most of the league's superstars settled in their existing situations.

Anthony Davis is the biggest free agent for 2020 and he's widely expected to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I knew this coming into the season and I can't remember the last season where we're just going to talk about all these storylines," said Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod. "Like you might talk about that Heat team for a week or two and then we're just back to free agency. You might talk about Minnesota's interesting start, but then we're back to free agency.

"We pretend to care about the season for about 10 days and then all anybody really cares about is what's coming. And we don't have that this year. We just don't have it.

"Nobody believes Anthony Davis is not staying with the Lakers."

Anthony Davis has historically said he prefers not to play center, but he expressed a willingness to do so last season with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Los Angeles Lakers' most optimal lineup appears to have Davis play the center position for the spacing it provides.

"I'm told that A.D. is definitely warming up to the idea of playing a lot at center," said Ohm Youngmisuk on ESPN's Hoop Collective Podcast. "I think right now (Frank) Vogel doesn't want to lose any of his veteran players. If he were to start A.D. at center eventually, he doesn't want to lose JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard."

McGee sat the entire second half against the Utah Jazz on Friday as they attempted to bring Rudy Gobert outside the paint.

"A.D. was put on this planet to play the center position in 2019. He is perfect for it," said Kirk Goldsberry.

DeMarcus Cousins could suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, according to Frank Vogel.

Cousins, who signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Lakers last offseason, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a summertime pick-up game.

"We've not closed the door on that. We'll just -- we're going to be a wait and see. With these injuries that are long rehabs, you have to see and take it kind of month to month and see where he's at. But we've not closed the door on a possible return for him," said Vogel.

The Lakers were granted a $1.75 million disabled player exception that expires on March 10th.

Frank Vogel said he envisions the Los Angeles Lakers closing out games with Anthony Davis at center.

“I envision us closing a lot of games” with Anthony Davis playing the 5," said Vogel in the leadup to their Sunday night game against the Hornets.

Davis, who played center in the Lakers' win over the Jazz, said he didn't mind playing the role if it made sense. Davis had previously expressed interest in staying at power forward.

An MRI confirmed that Rajon Rondo has a mild strain in his right calf.

Rondo, who will the Lakers game against the Hornets, is listed as day to day. 

Anthony Davis said that he doesn't mind playing center if it makes sense following the Los Angeles Lakers' 95-86 win over the Utah Jazz.

"If it makes sense, then obviously I don't mind doing it. And it made sense tonight," said Davis, who finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

Davis had previously said he prefers playing power forward. 

LeBron James noted that having Davis at center opened up the court for the Lakers.

"Having AD at the 5 definitely allows us to create more driving lanes for those guards," said James. 

The Los Angeles Lakers will start Rajon Rondo at point guard and slide LeBron James to small forward.

"I've given it a lot of thought, and I think he'll be in the starting lineup a lot," Frank Vogel said of Rondo after practice Thursday. "I definitely envision a lot of games where he'll be the starting point guard."

James was flanked by Avery Bradley and Danny Green in the Lakers' starting lineup on opening night.

Bradley had an impressive preseason with the Lakers. 

"The league is big on analytics now, so I don't know what the statistics are when LeBron and I are on the court at the same time, but that's last year's stats," Rondo said. "This year is obviously a different team, different feel. So we'll see how it goes. You can't predetermine anything. You got to see how the game flows and go from there."

The Toronto Raptors' win over the New Orleans Pelicans averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.25 million viewers, which makes it the smallest Opening Night audience (in the U.S.) since 2007 (Blazers-Spurs: 1.94M; Rockets-Lakers: 2.05M).

The rating excludes the Canadian audience.

The Los Angeles Clippers' win over the Los Angeles Lakers, however, averaged a 2.2 rating and 3.58 million viewers on TNT, which ranks third among Opening Night games since 2013. The 2017 openers — Celtics-Cavaliers (3.3, 5.60M) and Rockets-Warriors (2.6, 4.25M) — hold the top spots.

The NBA also competed against the World Series on their opening night for the first time since 2016.