The Los Angeles Lakers travel to San Francisco to face the Golden State Warriors ar Chase Center on Saturday.

The Lakers (38-12) have established themselves as the best team in the Western Conference but are struggling a bit right now. In fact, Los Angeles is just 5-5 across their last 10 games which is easily their worst 10-game stretch of the year. The most baffling loss was the one on Thursday, getting beat by a Houston Rockets team that didn't play anyone who was over 6'6". While they're not necessarily an easy matchup, a team with big dudes like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee should feast in a circumstance like that. In any case, this appears to be a small slump in an otherwise stellar season and an All-Star break next week could be just what the doctor ordered with all of the emotions surrounding the Kobe Bryant passing and how much its affected this organization.

The Warriors (12-40) took a big risk when they added D'Angelo Russell in the offseason but that experiment ended rather quickly. In fact, they decided to ship him off at the trade deadline to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins and some draft picks. Many would argue that Wiggins is the better fit with guys like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and it's not like Wiggins is washed up at the age of 25. That trade leaves him as the go-to offensive player for the remainder of the year, with the Warriors owning the worst record in the NBA. Having a core of Curry, Thompson, Wiggins and Draymond Green for next season should put them right back into contention and this 2019-20 season will simply be a blip on the radar when looking down the line.

These teams have played once this season, with Los Angeles prevailing, 120-94, on November 13. Prior to that, the Warriors won 10 of their previous 11 games over the Lakers.