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Stephen A. & Max Kellerman’s Lakers vs. Clippers predictions | First Take

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The Clippers-Lakers arms race turns opening night into the NBA’s biggest offseason storyline.

Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman used a segment of ESPN’s First Take to break down the stakes of the 2019-20 season opener between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers, scheduled for October 22, 2019. The debate came together after a summer that reshaped both Staples Center tenants: the Clippers landed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George, while the Lakers paired LeBron James with newly acquired Anthony Davis under first-year head coach Frank Vogel.

• The Clippers’ opening-night matchup against the Lakers became the league’s marquee showcase after Los Angeles signed 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and completed a blockbuster trade for Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
• The Lakers countered by acquiring six-time All-Star Anthony Davis to play alongside LeBron James under new head coach Frank Vogel.
• Max Kellerman argued the Clippers face far greater pressure entering opening night because they have more to prove after simultaneously landing Leonard and George.

Kellerman’s Case for Clippers Pressure

Kellerman’s position on First Take was straightforward: the Clippers, not the Lakers, walk into October 22 carrying the heavier burden. His reasoning centered on the sheer scale of what the Clippers pulled off in a single offseason — signing Leonard fresh off delivering the Toronto Raptors a championship and immediately pairing him with George in a trade that gutted Oklahoma City’s roster. That kind of star consolidation, Kellerman argued, doesn’t buy patience. It buys immediate expectations.

The Clippers hadn’t built a contender through a traditional rebuild or draft cycle — they bought one outright, and Kellerman’s stance was that a roster assembled that fast and that aggressively has to answer for it right away, starting with the league’s opening-night spotlight against their co-tenants.

The Lakers’ Side of the Ledger

The Lakers’ case for pressure runs through LeBron James’ championship timeline. Adding Anthony Davis wasn’t just a talent upgrade; it was widely viewed as a move designed to keep James’ title window open in Los Angeles, with Frank Vogel installed as head coach to make the pairing work from day one. The Lakers’ expectations, in other words, were already baked in before the Clippers even completed their own additions.

The Clippers have a lot more to prove.

That line captured the crux of Kellerman’s argument — not that the Lakers are without pressure, but that the Clippers’ version of it is sharper and more immediate given how deliberately they built to challenge for Los Angeles supremacy.

Setting Up the Opening Night Showcase

Debates like this one are exactly the kind of preseason content that fuels sports talk shows leading into a new campaign, and First Take‘s back-and-forth format is built for it. Segments breaking down marquee matchups have become a staple of daytime sports television, feeding into the same appetite that keeps TV Trends conversations churning well past tipoff.

Stephen A. Smith and Kellerman didn’t just handicap a single game — they framed the entire cross-town rivalry as a referendum on roster construction, star pairings, and coaching hires, all of which will be tested in real time once the Lakers and Clippers actually share the floor.

Whichever way opening night breaks on October 22, the debate Kellerman and Smith laid out won’t get settled by one game. The Clippers built their roster specifically to win it all now, and Leonard and George sharing a backcourt with a healthy Lakers front line means Staples Center will be hosting the league’s most-watched rivalry all season long.