Christmas Day was billed as one of the biggest games of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers.
This offseason, the Lakers and Clippers went head-to-head for the services of Kawhi Leonard, and the Lakers came up empty. As one of the best players in the NBA, Leonard instantly made the Clippers a title contender and made the Western Conference even stronger.
For the Lakers, losing out on Leonard was certainly tough. However, they had a strong backup plan in place and have one of the best records in the NBA over a quarter of the way through the season.