The San Antonio Spurs travel to California to play the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Monday.

The Spurs (1-1) picked up a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their opener and followed that up with a defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. It's hard to figure out exactly what sort of Spurs team this is going to be, as they truly have changed the guard. The Tony Parker-Tim Duncan-Manu Ginobili core is all gone now, as it's now DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge's team to run. Both players have shown signs of brilliance to start the year and it's just a matter of time before everything starts clicking. Those two will need to continue their dominance too, with the point guard position being a serious merry-go-around right now. Not only did Dejounte Murray suffer a torn ACL in the preseason, Derrick White suffered an injury of his own that will sideline him for over a month. That's a tough blow for an already shorthanded backcourt and it will be fascinating to see what the next step for management is to fill that void.

The Lakers (0-2) have gotten off to a rough start in their first two games and it may have hit a breaking point against the Houston Rockets. In fact, Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo will miss the majority of this week, with both players getting suspended for a scuffle in that 124-115 defeat. While standing up for your teammates is huge in any sport, it's obvious that these antics have hurt this club more than it's helped. In reality, Los Angeles was tied in the fourth quarter when that scuffle happened, as they simply couldn't maintain without Rondo and Ingram. That becomes an even bigger issue here, as LeBron James will have to take on a Cleveland-esque role with two starters suspended. Players like Lonzo Ball, Kenatavious Caldwell-Pope and Josh Hart need to step up to fill these voids, as they still have plenty of talent to win games. Other than disciplinary issues, it's the defense that has really hurt this team. The Lakers currently rank 27th in points allowed, which is sadly a trend that's followed this team around for a decade. The signing of James was as much about a culture change than anything else and defense will be the key focus going forward to get this team to where they need to be.

Los Angeles comes into this matchup winning four-straight games over San Antonio, which includes a three-game season sweep last year. Prior to that, the Spurs won eight of their previous nine games over the Lakers.