Wizards host struggling Lakers Friday night

Following Thursday night's 116-107 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant told reporters "I wish we had the Washington Generals on our schedule."

The 9-14 Lakers do indeed come to Washington Friday night for a match-up with the Wizards, who are returning home for a brief stopover before traveling to Miami to face the Heat Saturday night.

Over at Bullets Forever, SB Nation DC's Wizards editor Thomas Pruitt gave his thoughts on the Lakers' struggles, saying:

The reason LA isn't winning games right now is that the team management just isn't as good as it thinks it is. Despite being able to spend almost unlimited amounts of money and being the NBA's most popular franchise, the Lakers have been unable to acquire cheap backups, role players or even veterans on reasonable contracts *coughArtestcough*. Now that the team is dealing with the injuries and bad luck that tend to come with assembling a team built around guys in their 30s, the blame is being directed at people who are only marginally responsible for the team's struggles.

Thomas joined Mike Prada, John Walton, and Casey Phillips for another edition of Press Box this week. Click hereto watch them discuss the Wizards, Georgetown, and hockey. For more on Friday night's game, check out the "Fast Break" video preview with Dave Johnson and Glenn Consor.

Friday night's game tips off shortly after 7:00 p.m. The game can be seen on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and heard on 106.7 The Fan and WFED-AM 1500.