FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Lakers, we’ve known for some time, are prone to nights like this. The nights that skew their point differentials, the nights when they look nowhere close to a team that can contend, the nights when their worst habits shine brightest and their biggest strengths retreat to the background.

It’s why they’ve won 19 total games with just a plus-eight point differential.

As the Lakers pulled their healthy regulars early in the fourth quarter against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, everything the Lakers aren’t on the defensive end — aggressive at the point of attack, consistently communicating, constantly covering for one another — had fully eclipsed anything good happening on the other side of the floor.

They had no chance of winning this game, not with this energy, not with this focus, not with this mindset. It didn’t matter that Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton, who had missed time over the last week, were back. It might not have mattered if Luka Dončić, Rui Hachimura or Gabe Vincent were there.

The Lakers’ 132-108 loss had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with DNA, one team firmly established as a group that plays with physicality and toughness always and another that has to focus its attention and effort on those things.

Last year, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jordan Goodwin played with enough infectious energy to give the Lakers more than enough attitude on a nightly basis. Asked by The Athletic if they have those kinds of players this year, coach JJ Redick issued the obvious response.

“No,” he said.

Redick said the team’s success hinges on a series of choices. While injuries and revolving lineups have slowed continuity on the defensive end, the real challenges stem from mentality. And while players can get healthier, they don’t usually get tougher or more energetic.

“We practice this stuff enough,” Redick said. “We review this stuff enough. We show film on this stuff enough that to me … it comes down to just making the choice. It’s making the choice.

“There are shortcuts you can take, or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort. Or you can sprint back or you can’t. It’s just a choice. And there’s a million choices in a game, and you’re very likely not gonna make every choice correctly. But can you make the vast majority of ’em correctly? It gives you a chance to win.”

That the Lakers have to choose to play with the right kind of energy is, in itself, an indictment. For other teams — including some they’re chasing in the Western Conference like Oklahoma City and the surging San Antonio Spurs — that energy is the default.

“The theme with our team, again, is like these young teams that move, we just can’t move,” Redick said. “So it’s like we’re stuck in mud.”

The NBA and NFL are dreaming of a green Christmas, and that’s not cool. Never mind the TV overload. Think of all the people working them.

Publicly, Lakers players are saying that the team can and will find the right gear defensively so they can work together to get stops. Privately, sources inside the locker room acknowledged that the current roster will have to grind its way through the regular season instead of setting its cruise control at 85 and ignoring the brakes.

“We had a guy the other day who hasn’t played a lot, who didn’t know what a flood was in the middle of a game,” Redick said, referencing a common term for overloading the defense to the strong side of the court. “We clearly have some room to grow in that area.”

Internally, there’s some skepticism that the answers to this problem exist inside the locker room. Last year, Redick and the Lakers’ coaching staff called their hardest-playing role players “banshees.” This year, he’s barely uttered the phrase.

This team, the Lakers believe, has a higher ceiling than last year’s. There’s clearly more talent on the roster. But the ways in which it feels incomplete are so clear on nights like Tuesday, especially when a former Laker, Goodwin, is sparking his new team in ways the Lakers so badly need.

Last year, president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka traded for Finney-Smith. He signed Goodwin to a two-way deal. And the team’s defense improved — even as it lost its anchor Anthony Davis in the Dončić deal.

No one has gone as far as to say the Lakers need to make those same kinds of moves this year. But Redick did say that, for the Lakers to be better more regularly on defense, they’re going to have to approach the game differently.

And it might be easier to change the roster than it is to change a player’s mentality.

“That’s why I said it’s the hard choice. And it’s not the easy choice,” Redick said. “It’s human nature. We all do it. We do it on a daily basis. We make easy choices cause it’s comfortable. Comfortable doesn’t win.”

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Merry Christmas! Hard to beat a holiday filled with NBA basketball, especially with the Lakers on the main stage hosting the Rockets.

There is more good news: Luka Dončić is expected to play after missing the last game with a lower leg contusion, as is Rui Hachimura, so both the Lakers and the Rockets should have their main players available.

This should be a fun matchup between two teams sitting neck and neck in the standings, but with almost opposite advanced profiles. Houston has been one of the league’s best teams by point differential all season. At +8.7, the Rockets rank second in the NBA, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder. And yet, they’ve also been the league’s most high-profile underachievers late in games. Houston is just 6–8 in clutch situations, with four of those losses coming in overtime. Three overtime losses have come in their last five games, and eight of their ten total losses this season have been decided in the clutch. So far, the clutch process has been too much Alperen Sengun, and too little Kevin Durant, who was brought in to provide shotmaking when things get tight. The result is a league-worst -2.9 win differential—nearly three fewer wins than expected based on how dominant their point margins have been. The Lakers, on the other end, have made their money in the clutch, where they are a league-best 10–0 and own the NBA’s top +4.9 win differential.

So, you could say this is a battle between the league’s biggest underachievers and overachievers.

That shouldn’t matter too much tonight, as both teams have a lot to prove and redeem themselves. Both have been struggling lately, especially on defense, with both coaches questioning their teams’ effort. Over the last three weeks, the Lakers are 3–3, with their defensive struggles well documented. They rank 27th defensively over that stretch. The Rockets’ defensive collapse is much more surprising. They are 2–5 over the same stretch and rank even lower, 28th on defense, after Ime Udoka’s squad was the league’s second-best defensive team before that.

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Lakers (19-9) vs Rockets (17-10) game facts
Rest: LAL on 1 day of rest; HOU on 1 day of rest

Ranking: LAL 16th in Point Diff (+0.4), HOU 2nd in Point Diff (+8.7)

LAL vs HOU 2024-25 record: 2-1

LAL injuries: Luka Dončić (questionable), Jaxson Hayes (questionable), Gabe Vincent (OUT), Rui Hachimura (probable)

HOU injuries: Fred VanVleet (OUT), Alperen Sengun (questionable), Dorian Finney-Smith (questionable), Jae’Sean Tate (questionable)

LAL projected starting five: Luka Dončić (G), Austin Reaves (G), Rui Hachimura (F), LeBron James (F), Deandre Ayton (C)

LAL key reserves: Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith Jr., Adou Thiero

HOU projected starting five: Amen Thompson (G), Josh Okogie (G), Kevin Durant (F), Jabari Smith Jr. (F), Alperen Sengun (C)

HOU key reserves: Reed Sheppard, Steven Adams, Tari Eason, Aaron Holiday, Clint Capela

Key storyline: How will the Lakers handle another long and very physical team?

The book has been out on the Lakers this season: stifle them with athleticism, length, and pressure, and they can very possibly turn the ball over, get run over in transition, and eventually roll over.

Despite their and Udoka’s reputation, the Rockets haven’t been a heavy on-ball pressure team. They rank just 21st in opponent turnover rate and ninth in opponent free-throw rate, a profile more in line with a conservative defense. That could change with Tari Eason and Dorian Finney-Smith potentially returning to the rotation.

But where the Rockets’ aggressiveness really comes into play is on the glass. They are the NBA’s best offensive rebounding team, collecting nearly 40% of their misses in the half-court. Their starting lineup is massive, with three players at 6’11”, and only Josh Okogie standing shorter than 6’7”. They also often play two-big lineups, with Steven Adams and Sengun overwhelming opponents on the offensive boards.

Rebounding has been one of the rare bright spots of the Lakers’ defense, but the Rockets will present a challenge they haven’t seen before. Houston is typically a slow-paced team (third slowest pace) that doesn’t run much (24th in transition frequency), but this feels like a matchup where Udoka could change his approach. Expect his athletes—Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Eason, and others—to push the pace at every opportunity, trying to expose the Lakers’ biggest weakness: lack of speed.

The test will be very difficult, but also an opportunity for the Lakers to change the narrative and prove they can hang with young, physical teams on a big national stage—after failing to do so in their last attempt, an NBA Cup quarterfinal loss against the San Antonio Spurs.

This is where the Lakers’ hopes lie, and where the key tactical battle for tonight will unfold.

It feels like for the Lakers to have a chance, their offense, especially their two primary pick-and-roll operators, Luka and Reaves, will need not only efficient scoring nights, but also to force Udoka into more aggressive hedging or blitzing coverages, then punish those looks by making plays in 4-on-3 situations. After a stretch in the middle of the season when teams tried to stop Dončić by getting the ball out of his hands with more aggressive tactics, we’ve seen opponents reverse course. That shift followed the Suns showing a template built around a big playing in drop coverage, combined with aggressive shrink and stunts from the sides to reduce the pocket space Dončić likes to operate in with his snake and hostage dribbles.

The Rockets have strong on-ball defenders suited for this approach in Amen Thompson, Josh Okogie, and Tari Eason. The challenge comes on the back line, where their slower-footed bigs are not the same rim and lob deterrent that Mark Williams was. So far this season, Udoka has been among the more aggressive coaches when it comes to blitz frequency against top ball-handlers. The Rockets have shown those looks against Jamal Murray, Cade Cunningham, James Harden, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. We’ll see whether he goes to that coverage from the start against Dončić, or instead tests his calf and streaky shot early before reverting to showing two on the ball.

Regardless of the coverage, this is a night when the Lakers’ half-court offense will have to be efficient, and Dončić, Reaves, and James can’t afford to turn the ball over at a high rate. Because of the Rockets’ size and offensive rebounding, the Lakers will likely face a possession deficit, and they can’t afford to make it worse by giving the ball away.

The most likely, and most feasible, Lakers path to success is highly efficient scoring with Luka and the rest being the aggressors, dictating the terms on offense and forcing Udoka, Sengun, and the rest into a reactionary rather than proactive approach.

Rockets on offense | Lakers on defense

Here is where things get tricky for LA. Despite their recent struggles, the Rockets have been scoring at a high rate and rank as the third-best offense in the NBA.

The hope for a Lakers defensive resurrection lies in the fact that Houston is not the fast, downhill attacking team that has given them the most problems. Apart from Thompson, the other two key threats, Durant and Sengun, are more methodical, back-you-down or shoot-over-you types of players. That’s the profile the slower Lakers tend to contain better, rather than explosive drive-by attackers.

The Rockets’ shot profile also suits the Lakers better. They rank second in the NBA in mid-range frequency and last in three-point frequency, a much more manageable profile than aggressive rim-attacking or three-point-heavy teams. There is one caveat. The Lakers tend to shrink and show help off corner shooters, or are simply late on close-outs there, and the Rockets are top three in corner three accuracy at 43.5 percent, while also ranking second overall in three-point percentage.

Again, the offensive glass is where the Rockets are elite, especially when Steven Adams is on the floor. To match the Rockets’ size and bulk, the Lakers will need to repeat what they did on March 31 last season, when they collectively fought and gang-rebounded with smaller lineups against Sengun and Adams. That was one of their better hustle wins of the season, and they’ll again try to expose the Rockets’ slow foot speed on the other end.

Are the Lakers ready for zone and switching?

Udoka potentially going all in on size and trying to crush opponents on the glass is another interesting layer of this matchup. The Rockets have already logged 521 possessions with both Sengun and Adams on the floor (see orange blocks in the chart below), and have also paired Sengun with Clint Capela at times.

Source: pbpstats

With those lineups, Udoka often reverts to zone defense, and the Rockets currently rank second in zone defense frequency. The Lakers haven’t faced much zone this season, so Redick and his team will have to be ready and sharp against it tonight.

Personally, I would be more worried if the Rockets go small, with Durant, Smith Jr., Eason, and Thompson in long, switch-everything lineups, than with them having several targets for Dončić, Reaves, and James on the floor. The Lakers have excelled this season against hedge and aggressive schemes, but they tend to get too stagnant, too ISO-heavy, and too reliant on hero shots against switching defenses.

The Rockets’ ability to change styles, and how the Lakers deal with it, adds another interesting layer to this already intriguing matchup.

Final thoughts

After the last disappointing blowout loss against the Suns, I wrote about system breakdowns and the Lakers’ need for deep introspection. Their flaws feel so evident and so hard to overcome that a major reshuffle seems necessary to address them.

Will tonight’s game prove me wrong and bring hope? Or will it deepen those concerns and reinforce the belief in that diagnosis?

Let’s see how it plays out on the biggest NBA regular-season stage.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Surprise, surprise…The Los Angeles Lakers are shopping for an upgrade. While other contenders are standing pat, confident in what they already have, the Lakers are actively searching for help despite sitting at 19–8 and fourth in the Western Conference.

Right now, the Lakers are winning, and they have made some good pick ups in the offseason. Deandre Ayton has been stellar. Even Marcus Smart has been better than expected. But even with that being said, they know that the pieces that make up their current roster just are not enough.

Marc Stein captured that contrast clearly on The Stein Line, writing, “Really only the Lakers loom as a clear-cut playoff team like Minnesota that is known to be shopping for a particular need.”

In a conference loaded with top talent, the Lakers are the rare playoff team openly acknowledging a weakness and trying to address it midseason, which is obviously a good thing.

Why the Lakers are operating differently than other West teams

That weakness is no secret. The Lakers lack a true 3-and-D wing. They desperately need a perimeter defender who can stay on the floor offensively while taking on elite scorers.

Right now, they do not have a player who reliably checks both boxes. And the truth is, against top teams in the West, that gap shows up quickly, especially when the matchup turns physical. If you know anything about playoff basketball, every matchup gets physical.

The Lakers are way more desperate to make a move in the West than the other top dogs. The contrast with Oklahoma City could not be sharper.

The defending champions are off to an absolutely blistering 26–3 start, and their roster looks complete. There is no incentive for the Thunder to disrupt chemistry that is already producing dominant results. Stability is a luxury they have earned.

Other West teams feel similarly comfortable. As Stein noted, “Denver, meanwhile, is said to be pleased with the offensive boost provided by newly acquired Jonas Valančiūnas while remaining bullish on Cam Johnson… The Rockets are starting to regularly see the sort of production they hoped for from Reed Sheppard… San Antonio, too, has every reason to watch its young core continue to blossom rather than chase an older star.”

Each team has a reason to wait. The Lakers do not because their margin is thinner. Stein also cautioned that solutions may be limited, writing that “it’s equally unclear… if a player who can help address the Lakers’ need for a 3-and-D wing… becomes available between now and the Feb. 5 trade buzzer.”

The market may not cooperate, and the Lakers’ asset pool certainly will not make things easy. The Lakers have zero second-round draft picks between 2026 and 2031. Their first round draft capital is not a pretty sight either.

Still, effort matters. The Lakers are going to need to pick up the phone and hope for a taker, especially with the weaker, rebuilding teams in the league.

An example of a team they could call is the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans’ instability makes them an obvious target, and the Lakers should explore every possible opening.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The Lakers don’t have a choice.

The Los Angeles Lakers were without Luka Doncic on Tuesday night, and the team was blown out by the Suns in Phoenix. The NBA’s leading scorer has a calf injury that could be problematic. It is difficult to win with a superstar on the sidelines in the NBA, but the Lakers’ weakness was on full display in the Valley of the Sun.

The Lakers were without Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, and Luka. Austin Reaves was returning from a three-game absence, so he was on a minute limit. Head coach JJ Redick had to get creative with his rotation, but Los Angeles started Nick Smith Jr. on a two-way contract and had only one trusted player coming off the bench. That can’t be the case for a team with title contention dreams.

The Lakers desperately need a 3-and-D wing, but depth is also a problem. When fully healthy, LA has just seven trusted players. They can’t enter the postseason without more help, or it will be another quick exit for the Lakers.

Lakers’ lack of depth is on full display without Luka Doncic
Luka is one of the five best players in the world right now, so he makes up for a lot of issues. The five-time first-team All-NBA selection is an elite offense by himself and keeps the Lakers in games. Los Angeles looks like a serious contender with Doncic on the floor, but the weaknesses get magnified with the superstar out.

LeBron James is rounding into form, and Austin Reaves appears to have leaped into superstardom. The Lakers have the top-end talent to compete with any team, but they are lacking role players and depth to make a playoff run.

LA is light on tradeable assets. No team will be eager to acquire Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, or Adou Thiero after the shaky starts to their NBA careers. Nick Smith Jr., who was released by the rebuilding Hornets in September, started over the Lakers’ three young players on Tuesday night. They have just one tradeable first-round draft pick. Rob Pelinka will have to use it to land an upgrade before the deadline.

The Lakers should look to add however possible. Even if it means taking on a slightly overpriced contract. Los Angeles needs a perimeter defensive upgrade and just more options that head coach JJ Redick trusts in the playoffs. They can’t enter the postseason with this roster. That was clear in the blowout loss to Phoenix and will be evident whenever Luka Doncic is out of the lineup.

The Los Angeles Lakers have issues to solve and do not have the personnel needed. They have until Feb. 5 to make a trade, and Rob Pelinka must remake things on the fly again. He did in 2023 when the Lakers reached the conference finals and made the Luka blockbuster at last year’s deadline.

Hopefully, the GM has another trick up his sleeve because the Lakers desperately need it. All fans can do is stay tuned to find out.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

I don’t often stray from my usual game observations format. I like the consistency, and some readers have asked me not to disclose results in the titles since they watch games the day after. I did it once earlier this season, writing about the Lakers’ free-falling defense after the Celtics loss, when I subtitled it “when a game recap turns into a concerning trend.” Six games later, here we are again.

Sometimes a game feels different. Not just one of the 82 you sweep under the rug. This one felt like either a breaking point or a rally point going forward.

The Lakers lost their first consecutive game of the season, but more concerning is that this was another blowout collapse decided in the middle of the third quarter. Another entry in a growing list of troubling signs and uncompetitive losses we’ve seen all season.

The fact that the Lakers still hold a very solid 19–9 record and sit fourth in the West should not obscure what we’ve been talking about since the start of the season. Their +0.4 net rating, which ranks 16th in the league, paints a much more accurate picture of this team. An average one.

In his season-opening press conference, team GM Rob Pelinka said the 25-game mark would be a milestone for evaluating what this team really is. We are now three games past that point, and one thing is clear. What this team is not, despite the record, is physical and connected enough to keep up with the current top-tier teams.

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Today’s notes:

Lack of a clear identity

No Rui, no Luka: same structural issues 📈

Deandre Ayton over Mark Williams second thoughts?

When or why Vando is not the answer (🎞️VIDEO)

Driving home for Christmas

1-Lack of a clear identity
Why this game felt bigger than just one loss is because it gave the Lakers a mirror. On one end, you have a team that has been up and down all season. A team where you never quite know what level of effort and focus you are going to get, not just game to game, but quarter to quarter. A team still searching for answers on both ends of the floor.

On the other end are the Suns. A team with a clear identity. More organized. More structured on both ends. More disciplined, even while playing an aggressive brand of basketball. And with more three in their 3-and-D role players.

The Suns are far more comfortable and disruptive executing their base pick-and-roll defensive scheme. They build a tight pocket around the ball handler through aggressive shrinking and gap help, with Mark Williams anchoring the back line. By contrast, the Lakers repeatedly gave up switches that allowed Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks to attack smaller defenders like Austin Reaves and Nick Smith Jr., holding them hostage (literally with hostage dribbles) often with little to no help.

Room for the pick-and-roll operator: Lakers vs. Suns
The little defensive success the Lakers have had this season has mostly come from individual playmaking rather than consistent, systematic resistance or disruption.

2-No Rui, no Luka: same structural issues 📈
What made this performance especially frustrating, and a clear sign of deeper structural flaws, is that it came without Luka Dončić and Rui Hachimura. This was the worst defensive showing of the season despite both starters being out, even though those two are often the starting point when the Lakers’ defensive issues are discussed. The Lakers’ previous worst defensive performance also came without Dončić and LeBron James in the lineup.

The Lakers gave up an astonishing 152.6 points per 100 possessions in non-garbage-time minutes, dropping them to 25th in the league in defensive rating, ahead of only five bottom-feeder teams.

Postgame, a JJ Redick looked visibly deflated and was very frank about his team’s lack of effort and composure. Redick also admitted that this team’s margin for error on defense is not very high, which makes detailed execution of the defensive game plan essential. However, the Lakers have shown all season that they cannot maintain that level of focus for more than a few possessions, and certainly not for an entire game. At some point, that has to be pinned on personnel rather than willingness.

Lakers Daily
@LakersDailyCom
Reporter: “Does this group have enough guys who make the choice to play hard (like many guys on Phoenix eg. Goodwin)?”

JJ Redick: “No.”
8:47 PM · Dec 23, 2025 · 110K Views
34 Replies · 98 Reposts · 1.97K Likes
Redick answering the question of whether the team has enough high-IQ, high-effort defensive players with a quick, decisive “no” was a clear message. These defensive issues may be beyond fixing with the tools he currently has.

However, the current state is a consequence of the decisions the Lakers made in the offseason when they signed Deandre Ayton and chose to pair him with Hachimura, James, and Dončić. They did bring in Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia, replacing Dorian Finney-Smith and Jordan Goodwin, but right now those moves feel more like patchwork than the kind of systematic retooling this team needs around Dončić.

3-Deandre Ayton over Mark Williams second thoughts?
Ayton has exceeded most expectations for the Lakers as a great, low-cost pickup on the buyout market this summer. His attitude has been strong, his effort mostly solid, and his already elite finishing efficiency has climbed to new career highs catching lobs and pocket passes from Dončić, Reaves, and James.

But what has also become clear watching Ayton up close over the first third of the season is that he is not a game-changing defensive big. He is not the defensive backbone, the anchor archetype who erases mistakes and increases the margin for error Redick talked about, something this team, as currently constructed, desperately lacks. That’s not an indictment of Ayton, but rather of the roster as a whole, as the sum of its parts.

Williams, on the other hand, is thriving in a defensive scheme designed around him and his massive standing reach. Questions about his durability and his adaptability to the different coverages often required in the playoffs will remain. These three matchups against the Suns have shown that Williams has been the more impactful defender and rim deterrent compared to Ayton. That said, I’m not fully convinced Williams would look the same in purple and gold had the February trade not been rescinded, largely because of the Lakers’ system and, more importantly, the current personnel. But what I think there is less and less doubt about is that a team built around Dončić and Reaves needs an impactful defensive big on the back line to have any hope of a competent defense.

4-When or why Vando is not the answer (🎞️VIDEO)
Jarred Vanderbilt is one of the most polarizing players on this roster. At his best, he is the chaos-creating, relentless energy dynamo we saw in the previous matchup between these two teams, when he flipped the game with pure effort. Those kinds of hustle plays are why fans, myself included, have been calling for more banshees and more Vando in the rotation.

However, the challenge with Vanderbilt is that while his motor and hustle are never in doubt, his defensive composure and fundamentals are. He is an effort defender who will force loose balls, create havoc, and generate deflections while playing loose, but he is also a defender who can be undisciplined, too often gets burned on cuts, dies on screens, or ends up out of position while gambling for a steal.

That is why he is not an All-Defense–level player, and combined with his shooting limitations and turnover-prone play, it’s hard to justify a role much larger than 15 to 18 minutes off the bench.

5-Driving home for Christmas
This game closed out a four-game road trip, and now the Lakers head into a five-game homestand. Despite another disappointing loss, it should not be all doom and gloom. The strong start to the season bought them some margin and some time, allowing for patience after nights like this. The hope is that they can regroup at home and prevent a deeper slide.

That reset begins on Christmas Day against the Rockets. If time permits, I’ll have a detailed preview tomorrow. The Rockets have hit a rough patch of its own, losing four of its last five games, three of them in overtime. Christmas games are always fun, and this will be a great opportunity for the Lakers to respond and show they can keep up with the league’s best when fully motivated and locked in.

And to close, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Thank you for reading, for the support, and for being part of the digginbasketball community.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Now they are stuck

The Los Angeles Lakers are getting incredible seasons from Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The problem is that they have a third star still on board who should be playing somewhere else already. The Lakers made a grave mistake by not moving on from LeBron James this past summer.

The writing was on the wall all offseason. The organization pivoted to making Luka Doncic the center of their universe, building a team that optimized their new superstar rather than their quadragenarian one. The Lakers didn’t offer LeBron James a contract extension, wouldn’t commit to a long-term relationship, and have done everythig short of printing “good-bye LeBron” banners.

Everything, that is, except actually moving on from the King.

Since making his season debut for the Lakers after nursing a sciatica injury, LeBron James has been shockingly good for someone his age. He is averaging 20.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.1 assists. Those are All-Star type numbers. That he can still put up those stats is a testament to his elite basketball mind, his relentless preservation of his body, and his prodigious skill.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they have two players who are more effective with the ball in their hands. Doncic is a Top-4 player in the world with the greatest package of passing, shooting and scoring in a point forward since…well, LeBron James. And Reaves has broken out into All-Star form himself, a pick-and-roll knife slicing through the butter of opposing defenses.

When all three are on the court together, the Lakers are being steamrolled. Per Databallr.com, the Lakers are being outscored by 7.1 points per 100 possessions when all three play (garbage time removed). LeBron and Luka? -8.3 points per 100. LeBron and Reaves are the best pairing at merely 0.0, dead even.

When Doncic and Reaves share the court, however, the Lakers outscore their opponents by 19.6 points per 100 possessions, an elite pairing. They are shredding opponents and there is enough ball to be shared between two star creators. Splitting it three ways isn’t working.

The solution? The Lakers need to replace LeBron James on the roster.

The Lakers should have moved on from LeBron
Ideally, the Lakers would have already done this. They saw their post-LeBron future and started building for it, but it created this awkward transition year where he was still on the roster. That was fine when the Lakers were going through a consolidation year preparing to have cap space in 2026.

Now that Reaves and Doncic are playing at career-best levels, not having moved on from LeBron becomes a much larger problem. Putting the right players around Reaves and Doncic could mean pushing them up into the realm of true contenders, alongside the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets. Instead, their 19-8 record is masking a true team quality closer to .500 and 8th in the West.

Was a trade available this summer that would have worked for both LeBron and the Lakers? Could they have agreed to a buyout for him to sign somewhere else for the MLE? Did the two sides ever discuss moving on, or did their bizarre cold war of “we never discussed an extension” cover all conversations?

LeBron’s value is at an all-time low as he approaches free agency and struggles with the realities of aging. He is still a very good player, but moving him in-season is a daunting task. The offseason would have allowed more teams to get into the mix for LeBron’s services. The Lakers could have genuinely had a shot at putting a better mix of players around Doncic and Reaves.

Hindsight is 20-20, of course, and the Lakers are still on track for significant cap space next summer to upgrade the roster. For now, JJ Redick will need to continue balancing his three ball-dominant stars and make the most of the situation. And fans can wonder what may have happened if the Lakers had made a bold decision when they had the chance.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The banged-up Los Angeles Lakers face a very familiar foe tonight. This matchup against the Phoenix Suns is their final stop before the Christmas Day showdown with the Houston Rockets, and it comes with plenty of built-in context. It’s the third meeting between these two teams in December alone. Two evenly matched teams. Two teams that know each other well by now. And two teams that, at this point, clearly don’t like each other.

The last game added another chapter to Dillon Brooks trying to poke the bear. He went at LeBron James all night, only to get ejected after a clutch three when he couldn’t resist getting in LeBron’s face. Moments later, LeBron drew a foul on a last-second three, flipping the game once again.

So, another physical, competitive game is to be expected, with the Lakers trying to avoid a loss and remain in an elite group alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets as the only teams in the NBA that haven’t lost back-to-back games.

That won’t be easy. The Lakers will be without at least two starters. NBA-leading scorer Luka Dončić will sit out with a left lower-leg contusion, and Rui Hachimura remains out due to right groin soreness. The status of the third starter, Austin Reaves, is more encouraging. After missing the last three games with a left calf strain, he was a partial participant in practice and has been upgraded to questionable.

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Lakers (19-8) @ Suns (15-13) game facts
Rest: LAL on 2 days of rest; PHX on 2 days of rest

Ranking: LAL 14th in Point Diff (+1.5), PHX 16th in Point Diff (+1.1)

LAL vs PHX 2025-26 record: tied at 1-1 (see Game 20 observations here, Game 25 observations here)

LAL injuries: Luka Dončić (OUT), Rui Hachimura (OUT), Gabe Vincent (OUT), Austin Reaves (questionable)

PHX injuries: Jalen Green (OUT), Grayson Allen (doubtful)

LAL projected starting five: Austin Reaves (G), Marcus Smart (G), Jake LaRavia (F), LeBron James (F), Deandre Ayton (C)

LAL key reserves: Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith Jr., Adou Thiero

PHX projected starting five: Devin Booker (G), Collin Gillespie (G), Dillon Brooks (F), Royce O’Neal (F), Mark Williams (C)

PHX key reserves: Jordan Goodwin, Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro, Jamaree Bouyea

PHX rotation:

Learnings from the first two matchups: whoever sets the tone with hustle wins
If we learned anything from the first two games, it’s that this matchup turns into physical, ugly basketball. There are mistakes on both sides. The team that wins the hustle battle, the one that gets to more 50-50 balls, wins the game.

In the first matchup, the Phoenix Suns were the aggressor. They jumped on the Los Angeles Lakers, got their hands on 16 steals, forced 22 turnovers, and repeatedly punished the Lakers in transition.

The rematch marked the first game in which JJ Redick shifted his rotations toward banshees and hustle, reintroducing Jarred Vanderbilt into the lineup with a major payoff. The Lakers decisively won the hustle battle, dominating the smaller Suns on the offensive glass and posting their highest offensive rebound rate in the last 15 years.

Lakers on offense | Suns on defense

The 2025–26 Phoenix Suns have clearly taken on the identity of Dillon Brooks, becoming a scrappy, in-your-face, aggressive defensive team. They mostly play smaller lineups with four perimeter players who can apply pressure.

Ryan Dunn, Jordan Goodwin, and Royce O’Neale are all physical defenders. If they cannot get a deflection or a steal, the goal is to funnel the ball handler toward the paint, where Mark Williams, supposedly the player with the longest standing reach in the NBA, is waiting. The Suns’ aggressive style shows up in the data. They rank second in the NBA, behind only the Thunder, in opponent turnover rate, and sit 24th in opponent free-throw rate. The Lakers have struggled against the Suns’ pressure in both games. Their second- and third-worst turnover rate performances of the season have come against Phoenix.

Lakers: top five games in turnover rate (source: Cleaning the Glass)
Without Dončić, a potential return from Reaves would be a huge boost. It would allow James to stay in the secondary ball-handler and creator role he has thrived in over the last six games, during which he is averaging 27.6 points per game. James struggled against the Suns aggression in the last matchup, committing eight turnovers, five of them coming in the first quarter.

Apart from occasional excessive fouling, the biggest defensive flaw for the Suns is rebounding. Their smaller lineups can be punished on the offensive glass, something the Lakers exploited in the first matchup and a clear priority for Redick since the recent rotation shift.

Suns on offense | Lakers on defense

The Suns are a perimeter-oriented team with several good shooters. Devin Booker, Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, and Grayson Allen all stretch the floor, though Allen is listed as doubtful. Dillon Brooks is more streaky but a willing shooter. In their loss, the Lakers struggled to defend pick actions and off-ball screens against the Suns’ “lasers,” JJ Redick’s term for sharpshooters. That was especially true for Gillespie, who erupted for a career-high 28 points.

While the Suns force a lot of turnovers, they are not strong at controlling the ball themselves, ranking just 24th in turnover rate. Outside of Booker, they lack a true on-ball creator, and even Booker is better suited as a scoring and finishing guard than as a primary playmaker. They try to fill the playmaking void with Gillespie, Brooks, and O’Neale, but all three can be pressed and forced into bad decisions.

Player spotlight: LeBron James
Even if Reaves is good to go, a lot will again be asked of James, who is coming off his season-high scoring performance of 36 points in the last game against the Clippers.

Without Dončić, the James versus Brooks matchup should be even more frequent, with Brooks likely drawing the primary defensive assignment against his longtime nemesis. Excessive aggression and fouling have long been issues for Brooks. James staying patient and using Brooks’ eagerness to redeem himself after the ejection in their last matchup could be key.

Deandre Ayton finding an extra gear against his former team could also tilt the game in the Los Angeles Lakers’ favor. Williams was the more impactful big in the first matchup, while Ayton outplayed the center the Lakers had targeted to fill the spot in the middle before him in the rematch. Ayton he will need to be careful against Williams, especially in transition. In the first two matchups, Suns big men consistently sprinted the floor, punishing even the slightest lapse with aggressive rim runs.

Final thoughts
If Reaves is not ready to return yet, this one will be tough to pull off. The Suns are the better shooting team, and without Dončić, Hachimura, and potentially Reaves, the Lakers could struggle to match the Suns’ threes with paint points and free throws, which has been their primary way of compensating for the math disadvantage this season.

However, the Lakers have surprised us this season by winning several games while severely undermanned, and if nothing else, this should be another chippy and entertaining matchup.