EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — A smile worked its way across Bronny James’ face, the recognition of the absurd causing the normally serious Los Angeles Lakers guard to laugh.

“Crazy, right?” James said. “(Austin Reaves) keeps calling me a vet.”

It’s a strange time at the Lakers’ facility ahead of their first preseason game Monday in Sacramento. James is the third-longest-tenured Lakers player behind Reaves and Jarred Vanderbilt. A lot feels the same: JJ Redick and the overwhelming majority of his coaching staff are back for the third straight season. Reaves and Luka Dončić, the Lakers’ starting backcourt, have established proof of concept over the past 20 months and are in position to lead the team.

But everything else is new. The center the Lakers desperately wanted, the depth on the wings, the emphasis on dribble-pass-shoot offensive players to complement the stars — all of it is a departure from how the Lakers have been built the past two years.

Monday against the Kings (and then Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors), we’ll get our first glimpses at what this can all look like.

Here are five things we’re monitoring.

The Kessler effect

The single biggest acquisition of the Lakers’ summer will be the team’s most important player for a bunch of reasons.

One, Walker Kessler is expected to anchor a defense that has some very real questions. Two, he’s also expected to have enough gravity as a screener, a roller and as a lob threat to fully optimize the Lakers’ Dončić-centric offense.

And then there’s three: The Lakers really need him to stay healthy. Kessler has said that his left shoulder, which was operated on at the start of last season, is better than ever. His development has undoubtedly been stunted by injuries, but now that he has landed on a team with high hopes, the push will be for him to get on the floor and stay there.

If the Lakers plan on taking a conservative route with Kessler early, the focus then shifts to the players behind him. The Lakers have been looking to bolster their back-up center position alongside Kevon Looney, and Looney’s play could give us a sense of how urgent they should be. How the Lakers look with — and without — Kessler will be at the top of my list in the early part of the preseason.

A healthy Walker Kessler expects to be a major contributor for a Lakers team looking for both an offensive and defensive boost. (Harry How / Getty Images)

The pressure points

So … about those defensive questions.

Many of them from rival teams center on the Lakers’ point-of-attack defense and, well, the lack of it. The Lakers let Marcus Smart walk in free agency and have a handful of players they’re hoping can take on the role. There’s Quentin Grimes, a big favorite for one of the team’s open starting spots. The pitch has been that Grimes is ready to fill the role he did as a rookie in Tom Thibodeau’s defense with the New York Knicks.

The Lakers also have plans to deploy Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, James and Collin Sexton as players who can pick up the ball in the backcourt to try to knock teams out of rhythm. We’ll see whether they’re quick enough and organized enough to extend their defense early in the season.

The ceiling raisers

Provided they stay reasonably healthy, the general feeling is that the Lakers have a pretty solid floor. Most Dončić teams do; the Lakers’ star guard is so good at orchestrating the game that if he’s out there, you’ve got a pretty good chance to win. Add in Reaves, an in-his-prime efficiency machine and secondary creator, and the Lakers should be just fine.

But how do they become great? That comes from some unexpected pieces clicking in a way that pushes the team to another level.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Adou Thiero, who would give the Lakers a ton of athleticism and strength in transition. The game is still moving a little fast for him, but with consistent reps in the preseason, he could find a role for himself. Rookie Cameron Carr has the shooting and verticality to play now, but he needs to find ways to matter on the other end of the floor, where everyone admits he must get stronger. The question here is whether the offense is good enough to let the body catch up to the demands of guarding in the NBA.

And then there’s Williams, a 2021 lottery pick who finds himself in a tremendous situation with the Lakers. If he shoots as well as he’s shown in camp and preseason work, and if he defends with purpose, he could be a real weapon.

The ones not there

We don’t know who isn’t playing, but it doesn’t take expert detective work to notice that Sexton hasn’t seemed like a full participant in camp so far.

After practice Saturday, he got some extra work in with the team’s strength and conditioning staff. He has also been absent from the clips of live action the Lakers have posted on social media.

If he’s unable to play, it could be more opportunity for James and Jaden Hardy.

The fighters

The Lakers remain over capacity when it comes to roster spots. The team has 16 players under contract and needs to cut down to at most 15 by opening night.

A prime target, 2024 first-round pick Dalton Knecht, has some really big opportunities in front of him, whether to play himself into the Lakers’ plans or into another team’s. The scoring gene isn’t a question, and an open runway (maybe on the second night of a back-to-back at Golden State) could remind people of the things he can do if he’s able to get into rhythm.

The bigger questions, at least from the Lakers’ concerns, come down more to execution, defense and physicality. It’s a bit of a tricky spot, because the things Knecht needs to do to impress the Lakers probably are a little different from the ones that would pop more loudly for other evaluators. We’ll get a good sense of where he is and what the Lakers’ coaches think about his place with the team based on how he is used in these first two games.