Here's how chaotic the team's switch to Time Warner Cable is at the moment:

Even the Lakers' coach isn't sure if his family can get the games in their Anaheim Hills home.

"We're still a little unclear on that," Mike Brown says. "I'd like my wife and kids to be able to see me coach, you know? How's that whole thing working, anyway?"

The short answer, Coach, not well. Not well at all, so far.

Time Warner, the Lakers' new $3 billion TV partner, is locked in negotiations with other area providers – including DirecTV, Charter, Dish, Cox, Verizon and AT&T U-verse – to pick up its two new Laker-centric channels, SportsNet and Deportes.

The asking price is reported to be $3.95 per subscriber per month. The providers, however, are holding out for a better deal in hopes of keeping rates low for customers. This is still just the preseason – the Lakers play Utah on Tuesday night at Honda Center – but fans who can't find their team on their TV are, in some cases, a bit uneasy and, in other cases, flat ornery. (MORE)