The NBA preseason schedule tipped off on saturday night with two games. Among those matchups was the debut of Lonzo Ball as he and the Los Angeles Lakers went up against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ball finished with a relatively low stat line in his first outing but was still able to dazzle the crowd. The Timberwolves were led by strong performances by Shabazz Muhammad and Taj Gibson in the last win. Here's the Wolves vs. Lakers recap with top performers, game stats, and what's up next on the schedule for these two teams.

Game recap

The Minnesota Timberwolves saw the debut of their newest star Jimmy Butler.

He finished with just 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting in 12 minutes of time on the court. Taj Gibson had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead all starters, while Shabazz Muhammad came off the bench to play 30 minutes and score 22 points. Gorgui Deng had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

In his NBA preseason debut, Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball had just five points on 2-for-9 shooting. That included a three-pointer made although he was 1-for-5 from beyond the arc. Ball also had seven rebounds and eight assists in the losing effort. Fellow rookie Kylie Kuzma impressed off the bench as he scored 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting while also grabbing five boards. Julius Randle had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Brandon Ingram finished with 10 points and six boards.

The game featured several highlight-reel plays including Karl Anthony Towns rejecting Julius Randle's jumper in the lane with authority. A Jordan Clarkson fast-break ally-oop to Kyle Kuzma also dazzled the crowd in Anaheim.

For the game, the Timberwolves shot just 41.6 percent overall and 30 percent from downtown, but they also had 35 free throw attempts compared to just 17 for the Lakers.

Minnesota edged L.A. in the rebounding battle 49-48 and the two teams combined for 33 turnovers between them.

What's up next

The Minnesota Timberwolves get a 1-0 start to their NBA preseason. For their next game, they'll take on the Golden State Warriors in a game being held at Shenzhen Universiade Center in China. It's slated for October 5th at 2 a.m.

Eastern Time in the morning.

The Los Angeles Lakers are 0-1 for their preseason start. They get a chance to bounce back against the Denver Nuggets on Monday, October 2nd at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time with NBATV set to televise the matchup from the Staples Center.
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