EL SEGUNDO — Once the regular season starts, it’s uncommon for an NBA team to go more than two days in a row without playing a game outside of the All-Star break in mid-February.

The Lakers are coming off experiencing that kind of break two-fold.

Not having played a game since Tuesday’s home win over the Utah Jazz, and not playing again until Sunday’s road game against the Jazz at Delta Center, the Lakers had a rare four-day break from this past week.

But they still found another competitive outlet, with the Lakers on Friday hosting a team-wide pickleball tournament, with forward Jake LaRavia and assistant coach Beau Levesque emerging as the winning team.

“Unsurprisingly, it was very competitive, with a lot of trash-talking,” coach JJ Redick said after Saturday’s practice. “I had no part in making the teams. I just feel like the Luka [Doncic]-[assistant coach] Ty [Abbott] pairing and the Beau-Jake pairing were a little unfair. I’m not going to name names, but particularly when one of my teammates decided to eat through the majority of the tournament. Like, he was eating food while watching me and the other teammate I had play. You can probably figure out who that is.

“I woke up [Saturday] morning and my back was just hurt from carrying us to the semifinals.”

Marcus Smart, who was one of Redick’s three teammates, made it clear that Redick wasn’t referring to him.

“It was three of us, I ain’t gonna mention the other one,” the guard said. “It wasn’t me. I was holding my own.”

Beyond added banter or fun facts that are learned from activities like Friday’s – like LeBron James having customized pickleball paddles, according to Redick – the tournament also served as an opportunity to build off-court camaraderie.

“Any time we can get everyone in the same room, it’s beneficial,” guard Gabe Vincent said. “Whether it’s an activity, a conversation, a movie, film, practice, whatever the case may be. Especially if we can get off the court, just build some more chemistry, build some more symmetry, just get to know each other a little bit more.”

Rookie forward Adou Thiero, along with second-year guard Bronny James, were assigned to the Lakers’ South Bay G League affiliate and played in Thursday’s 115-95 win over the Santa Cruz Warriors.

James, who also spent time with the G League team last year, finished with 15 points, eight assists, four rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot in 31 minutes.

Thiero, the second-round pick in June’s draft who made his NBA debut less than a week prior in the Lakers’ Nov. 15 road win over the Milwaukee Bucks, led all scorers with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting (5 of 5 on free throws) to go with four rebounds and three steals in 19 minutes for his G League debut.

“He just looked comfortable,” Redick said. “I liked his ball pressure. Defensively, he was in a stance a lot, which you got guys that are eight years in and they have a hard time getting into stance. On every defensive possession for him to do that, in his first extended period, was really good. The athleticism obviously pops. Thought some of the stampede drives were really good. He attacked the rim. Got to the foul line. So, overall was really pleased with how he played.”

Redick said starting center Deandre Ayton didn’t practice because of an illness and stayed away from the team Saturday, per a doctor’s recommendation, but will travel with the group to Salt Lake City for Sunday’s game.

Everyone else was “good to go” for the weekend.

Redick was pleased with how his team was able to handle the past few days without games.

“We got through this week without wanting to kill each other. So that was good,” he said. “I lived it as a player when you have these stretches when you are competing against each other, it just naturally gets a little chippy. We’ve had a couple of chippy practices this week. But I view it as a really good thing, and it can also get a little monotonous.

“Getting through this week healthy and getting through this week where we feel like we got better on some stuff, but also broke up the monotony a little bit. It was good.”

When: 5 p.m. PT Sunday

Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City

TV/Radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM