Lakers’ Julius Randle to be reevaluated Monday after missing practice with strained rib muscle

Lakers forward Julius Randle was kept out of Saturday’s practice because of a strained muscle between his ribs, but he shot free throws at the end before heading into Sunday’s off day.

Coach Luke Walton said Randle, who left Friday’s preseason finale victory over the Clippers in the fourth quarter after holding the right lower side of his back, will be reevaluated Monday morning when the team reconvenes.

Walton said a team trainer told him “[Randle’s] doing better today than he thought he would, as far as how he reported sleeping last night.”

Randle, competing against favored Larry Nance Jr. and rookie Kyle Kuzma for the starting power forward spot, had 15 points and seven rebounds in the 111-104 win Friday.

The 2014 first-round pick is entering the fourth and final season on his rookie contract. If he can return to full strength by this week, he could compete in a planned scrimmage Walton is arranging before setting the starting lineup for Thursday’s season opener against the Clippers at Staples Center.

‘Intense’ sessions coming

Rookie point guard Lonzo Ball, who missed the final four preseason games because of an Oct. 2 ankle injury, participated Saturday in the noncontact practice.

“A bunch of offensive execution, running through all of our plays and sets” is how Walton described the session, labeling it “a light day.”

That changes with final preparations for Thursday’s opener. Walton said he’s planning a scrimmage this coming week that will start by matching his first- and second-team units, then juggling players from there.

In addition to improving Ball’s comfort with his teammates, Walton will seek to mitigate the two-game absence of suspended guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and establish his starting power forward.

“We’ll evaluate everything now and come up with an answer in the next few days,” Walton said following Friday’s game.

He added on Saturday of preparing for the opener, “Everything that we do we want to be intense. We will have referees in here, we will have two coaches. It better be intense or we will have a lot of trouble on Thursday.”

Amost there

The Lakers trimmed their roster to 16 players Saturday by requesting waivers on guard Vander Blue, forward Travis Wear and guard Briante Weber.

Should he clear waivers on Monday, Wear, who played at UCLA and Mater Dei High, could find his way back with either the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League or a two-way contract that allows him to play for both Lakers teams.

Two players can be granted such status and guard Alex Caruso was previously designated a two-way player.

“We’re looking at that, working on bringing [Wear] around a little more,” Walton said Friday before the waiver move. “There’s other guys we like for that, too. We have to make a decision.”