The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center on Thursday evening in the regular-season opener for both teams.

The Lakers began making their way back to the NBA spotlight last season with the drafting of Lonzo Ball, and due to the improvement of other key young pieces such as Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Julius Randle. While they opted to let Randle walk in the offseason, it was for a very compelling reason -- the arrival of LeBron James to man the power forward position and bring some championship pedigree to the once-proud franchise. James will spearhead a new-look starting five that includes fellow offseason addition JaVale McGee. Mercurial but talented veterans Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson were also added via free agency to provide quality depth.

The Lakers are listing Moritz Wagner (knee) as out for Thursday's contest, while Alex Caruso (hip) will be a game-time decision.

The Trail Blazers saw another solid regular season go for naught in the 2017-18 campaign, as a 49-33 record that netted the Western Conference's third seed culminated in a surprising four-game sweep at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs. Despite the disappointing outcome, Portland returns the same starting five to open the new season, with the offense once again expected to run through the potent trio of Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. The Blazers will hope for significant improvement from 2017 first-round picks Zach Collins and Caleb Swanigan to help shore up their frontcourt depth, while the offseason addition of Seth Curry could prove to be a boon for the second unit's upside.

The Trail Blazers will list Maurice Harkless (knee) as probable for Wednesday's game, while Gary Trent (quadriceps) is listed as questionable.

The Trail Blazers swept the three-game season series from the Lakers last season.