5 THINGS

Well that was fun. The 7 game winning streak is over and in our first test against 5 teams with winning records we seemed content to play a little too care-free and never adjusted to the intensity of Phoenix’s pressure. Toss in the return of the “Who Is This Guy?!” Laker defense and you have all the required ingredients for a blowout loss. Tip you hat to Phoenix, who came into the game geeked and ready enough to sustain the loss of franchise player Devin Booker after a scant 10 minutes of action. Hopefully this can serve as a quick reminder that, in this league, you can’t just show up. You need to be prepared to go to battle.

1. Luka trying to do too much in this one. The stat line looks pretty solid right up until you get to the turnovers. 9 turnovers to 5 assists tells the story of the game in a nutshell. Forcing plays that just aren’t there and not really ever adapting to the defensive pressure deployed by Phoenix. This was a game with a quiet whistle, if there’s one thing Luka could do better at it’s recognizing when the refs just aren’t going to call certain fouls in that game. As a rule, the Lakers are overly dependent on drawing fouls and, when those calls don’t come, getting overly invested in chirping back at the refs. Did Phoenix push the boundary of physicality? Absolutely, but that’s something that we’ll need to be able to adjust to better going forward.
2. Taking scrubs seriously. Once Devin Booker (21.5 ppg) went down, and when you add in that fact that the Suns were missing Jalen Green (15.5 ppg) and Grayson Allen (17.9 ppg) and the scoring punch was, in theory, off the floor. Collin Gillespie, Dillon Brooks and last season’s Laker fan favorite Jordan Goodwin picked up the slack and nobody on our team seemed prepared for it as we failed to apply meaningful defensive pressure to stop any of them. It’s easy to look at guys who don’t play a lot and expect them to flounder when their moment comes. Nick Smith Jr. on our own team had such a moment and went off and it’s on the staff and the team to understand that anyone can be a Nick Smith Jr. on the other team on any given night. Let a guy who doesn’t play a lot make a shot or two and suddenly you’re in for a very long night. Let three of those guys shake loose and you’ll get blown out, like we did.
3. Lakers need Gabe and LaRavia to hit shots. Especially with Smart dealing with a bad back, which can be tricky to come back quickly from the older you are (as I know from personal experience lol), our bench can fall into a very deferential style of play and just settle for the shots Luka, Reaves and LeBron can create for them. That won’t cut it all season, both LaRavia and Vincent can more aggressively hunt their own shots. LaRavia in particular needs to work on his handle because he doesn’t handle pressure well while dribbling and once he turns the ball over. Vincent seems quite content to let the play come to him on every single possession and we saw in preseason how well he can play with the ball in his hands. This needs to be addressed sooner than later, both these guys need to be averaging 10 ppg for the bench to have any relevance. Currently Jake is at 9.0 ppg and Gabe is an anemic 3.9 ppg.
4. LeBron’s streak continues. With a three in the 4th The King hit his 10 point milestone. And there was much rejoicing (yay).
5. Rui’s vanishing act. 1 shot. One. You can argue that part of the Sun’s game plan was making sure the release pass to Rui was covered by a lengthy defender at all times. You could argue that the Lakers didn’t look for Rui often enough. You could argue that Rui didn’t do much to get himself involved. You’d be right on all three. The Lakers, as a whole, don’t run nearly enough plays for their best shooter. Additionally, when the defense is keyed in on him, Rui needs to be better at adjusting his level of aggression in demanding the ball. The staff needs to recognize when the outlet pass from the drive is being covered and help make an in-game adjustment. All parties involved need to work on this because to have a weapon like Hachimura go basically un-used in a game we lost by 17 makes no sense.

With the win last night and another game tonight the Lakers are coming up to the quarter pole in full stride and have found a solid groove. By embracing the midrange and continuing to attack the paint it’s given the shooters time to find some mojo from beyond the arc in the last 3 games. At 15-4, winners of 7 in a row and cruising through an easy part of the schedule (at least records wise), the Lakers should try to pad the record during this stretch of very winnable games. The mark of a good team means taking care of business against lesser opponents and not playing to their level of talent. The mark of a great team is doing that consistently and getting some 4th quarter rest for your star players. The Lakers are making strides in both areas.

1. Luka’s overall excellence. The toned, leaner version of Luka is dominating. It’s as simple as that. Other than some missed free throws and a stretch of poor shooting from distance, there’s little to quibble about when it comes to how well Luka is playing right now. He leads the Lakers in threes (56-165, 33.9% and climbing), in defensive rebounds (Ayton has him beat 146-131 by virtue of his 47 offensive rebounds to Luka’s 13), assists, steals and triple-doubles (1). While the MVP race will likely come down to overall record it’s currently a 3 way race with Joker leading, shadowed by Shai and just behind them is Luka. It’s hard to argue against Joker’s overall dominance or Shai’s Thunder sitting atop the league with but a single loss. Luka’s just not really all that far off. Too much season to get into the weeds on this but there’s a world where, if the Lakers are 2nd in the West and LeBron doesn’t meet the 65 game threshold that voters look at Luka’s play and give him some love. We’ll see. I’m sure he’d trade an MVP for a ring, and so would I, but as long as he’s in the convo it means things are going our way more often than not.
2. Reave’s looks like he did in the first couple of weeks. I was worried that LeBron’s return would dim Austin’s impact. Turns out that was a needless worry as LeBron has morphed into the perfect off-ball teammate as if he always played this way (more on that later). After sitting out with a sore groin it took Reaves a week or so to rediscover his shooting touch and he’s pushing that 3 pt. FG% up to 36.1% in a short stretch when just last week he was down at 31.1%. He’s also embraced the midrange game where he’s starting to threaten Rui’s supremacy as he’s shooting 60.1% from inside the arc (97-149). Add in the free throws he generates on drives and his improving assist to turnover ration and it’s easy to see Reaves making his first All Star team this season.
3. DeAndre Ayton might be the perfect center for Luka and Reaves. I have to say, I am impressed with Ayton this season. He’s filling his role admirably, shooting an insane 71% (125-176) and, unlike Hayes (an equally impressive 74.5% (38-51, mostly dunks) his shot chart stretches out to 15-20 feet. He’s the third best scorer on the team, leading us in rebounds and blocks and has the kind of vibe you need on a team full of guys chasing history. That vibe is intense but fun. Loose but professional. Island time, baby. Ayton has had some rough patches to his career but it’s hard to be anything but excited about the foundation he, Luka and Reaves can provide for this franchise for the next 4-5 years.
4. LeBron James doesn’t need the ball. The King has found yet another way to dominate the NBA. This season he’s become the ultimate off ball threat using his still impressive athletic skill and talent with his beyond elite4 hoops IQ to pick perfect moments to cut, slip, and still be the primary creator/scorer when needed. He’s dribbling the lowest amount of his entire career to get his points, he’s already helped the defense, and when Luka and Reaves rest he shows us he can still be “the man”. I’ve got nothing but admiration for the guy so very many people want to pigeonhole as a social media diva. When every little gesture, tweet or press release from your agent generates bullshit article after bullshit article, mountains of meaningless drivel and clickbait, it’s so refreshing to see that LeBron had chosen all along to simply put in the time and work. Maintenance will be the big key when it comes to James. It feels unlikely he’ll get to the requisite 65 games that would allow him to qualify for end of the season awards…but I’m not comfortable counting the man out until the benchmark has come and gone. Because with LeBron you just never know.
5. Rui Hachimura. Want to talk about the secret weapon of the Los Angeles Lakers? It’s Rui Hachimura. Smooth like Jamal Wilkes, maybe too deferential but on this team I don’t see that as a negative. There are a lot of guys looking for a payday this summer, Rui is one of them. He’s leading the non-centers in both FG% (54.5%) and three point percentage (46.1%) by a country mile. He impacts winning at a high level despite a usage rate (15.9%) that’s lower than the brick laying Dalton Knecht (16.2%) and Marcus Smart (16.6%) and just north of the equally effective Jake LaRavia (15.4%). My one note for Rui would be to continue hunting his shot, backing the smaller guy into the paint and being the ultimate release valve on offense for a team that absolutely relies on that role. Rui won’t get much press, won’t win any awards, and will likely get a small raise this summer. I hope it comes from the Lakers.

In the modern NBA no lead should feel safe. Up 11 with about 4 minutes to go? Meaningless, a couple stops and a couple of threes can get the other team right back in it and ramp up the pressure. It’s why I’m still annoyed Redick bailed on the Atlanta game at the end of the 3rd quarter. That game alone could mean the difference between home court advantage in a key playoff matchup. At any rate, the team has been finding ways to win, despite the math of the modern game, although it feels pretty unsustainable. At some point the guys who need to make shots need to start making shots.

1. Laker’s three point futility and feebleness. If the name on the back of the jersey isn’t ‘Hachimura’ it’s likely you suck at shooting three’s so far in the 2025-26 Lakers season. Luka is shooting an atrocious 31.1%, Reaves is shooting an equally atrocious 31.1% and Marcus Smart is shooting a pathetic 24.2%. It would be one thing is these guys were shooting one, maybe 2 threes/game. They lead the team in attempts by a wide margin and it’s killing the offense on a nightly basis and providing a launching pad for teams to make comeback runs against us. Luka launching 11 3’s game is expected but, at the rate he’s missing, it feels like that’s unsustainable. He either needs to start making shots or adjust his attack and get closer because he’s shooting 61.4% from 2. Reaves at 7.9 (making 2.5) is a slightly less egregious offender but what makes it worse is he’s even better inside the arc than Luka is (63.1% on 2 point shots). Lastly, Smart on only 4.9 attempts (making 1/2) is even better than Doncic and Reaves inside the arc at 66.7% (add in that he’s leading the team in free throw percentage at 93.8% and his three point launching becomes even more mystifying to me). Bronny James and Jared Vanderbilt have better shooting touch from three than Smart does, so far. That’s a problem. These guys need to turn this part of their game around or make the adjustment and get aggressive driving the ball into the paint.
2. The Lakers are, once again, really good at scoring in the paint. It’s the main reason I’m befuddled as to why we shoot so many three pointers when, other than Rui, we’re not good at making them. We’re the #1 scoring team inside the arc. We’re 2nd in generating free throws (15th at making them). There needs to be an emphasis from the staff to simply let success be your guide. If the three ball is falling, by all means fire away. But consider the open space in front of you as something more than an invitation to shoot, consider it to, maybe…just maybe, be an invitation to take a step or three in and take the easier 2 point shot. Even better, drive the ball into the paint and attack the rim as much as humanly possible. It’s what makes our offense work the best because the whistles will dry up the longer the season goes.
3. The defense is nowhere close to where it needs to be. Considering our schedule it feels like we can be better. Letting inferior teams back into the game isn’t the hallmark of a great team. What I’m trying to see as a hopeful sign is how effective we are in crunch time. We’re finding a way to win despite all the early issues. The other thing I’m taking as a positive, for now, is that, regardless of the issues, we’re finding ways to win. This is important because not every game is going to be a cakewalk and having the “slog it out mentality” is one of the hallmarks of a playoff team.
4. Maxi Kleber. I like that we’re giving Maxi some early run. As an expiring contract you might as well give him a few minutes, especially early on, and see if he can drum up some mild interest. It feels like we’re a bit guard heavy, as currently built, so you can call me intrigued with any and all trade proposals built around Gabe Vincent and/or Kleber. he hasn’t scored much but he’s been solid in his minutes on D. It’s come at the cost of Vanderbilt and Knecht’s minutes (and Knecht seems to only hurt his trade value when he plays) but that was always going to happen once LeBron returned. It gives us nice option in small ball lineups, I don’t expect it to last, though. I think this is a short run for some guys and we’ll see the script flipped in a couple weeks and get more Vando and Knecht, again, unless we’re utterly balling out against quality teams.
5. The Buss Brothers. Just wanted to say thanks for all the good work Jesse and Joey did for the Lakers. it’s unfortunate that so much drama amongst the family led to them never getting a shot at running things because you can make a pretty decent argument they were the most accomplished in terms of any Buss, besides, Jeannie, in terms of what they brought to the team. They ran the scouting dept. really well and we have had a lot of late round success stories thanks to them in no small part.

Next up is a cross-town battle against the Clippers and a slew of home games. Let’s keep the party train rolling people.