You may as well go outside and lower your flags to half-mast because the Los Angeles Lakers just made the first cuts of the NBA preseason, releasing former NBA Development League players Russell Hicks and Anthony Roberson right before heading to Europe.

It may seem a little harsh, coming just three days after Hicks memorably posed with the NBA championship, but as Lakers beatwriter Kevin Ding found out, it could have been worse.  Ding tweeted ""... Kinda late notice, I said to Lakers spokesman. John Black's reply: 'When did u expect us to tell them, on the plane?'"

He mentions this because the Lakers are leaving this afternoon to play exhibition games Monday in London against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Thursday in Barcelona against FC Barcelona.

What this does mean, though, is that Trey Johnson and Drew Naymick did get to make the trip to Europe and, presumably, also got to bring along a friend according to this article.

For more on the four(mer?) Lakers, here's a briefing on Russell Hicks, here's a story on Trey Johnson and Anthony Roberson and here's the last time I mentioned Drew Naymick.  The Lakers do only have 14 players guaranteed to be on the team next year, one less than the NBA's maximum, but they'll probably leave that spot open so expect a similar post on Johnson and Naymick sometime next month.