From Above Article:

The Los Angeles Lakers had a terrible bench unit in 2024-25. From a pure production standpoint, the group has actually gotten worse in 2025-26. Luckily for JJ Redick, LeBron James and Austin Reaves offer the perfect solution to the second-unit woes in Los Angeles.

Last season, James was tasked with quarterbacking the bench players all by his lonesome. It led to a statistical outlier for the Lakers superstar which his critics would not shut up about.

LeBron’s season debut for Los Angeles suggested Redick may still be looking towards his aging superstar to help elevate some of the support pieces of the second unit. However, this time around, the Lakers head coach appeared tuned in to the fact that James needed more help.

Reaves spent a lot of time sharing the court with James during the latter’s first outing of the season. That should be the combo that is tasked with lifting up the bench when the time calls for those substitutions.

LeBron James and Austin Reaves are the duo Lakers need to rely on

If any of the Lakers’ three stars are going to be left alone with the backups, it will be Luka Doncic. The superstar point guard is playing at an MVP level and can certainly be asked to backpack an offense all by himself.

Otherwise, turning to James and Reaves as a duo is the right move. It may be a small sample size, but the pairing quickly showcased their chemistry in the strong 140-126 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.

James and Reaves shared the court for 26 minutes in the win, the second most of any two-man combination for the Lakers. The results were pretty good for Los Angeles, with the duo posting a positive net rating of 5.4 in their time together on the floor.

Having both available and mixing them in with second unit guys led to a solid 40-point performance from the bench. Granted, some of those came in garbage time when the Lakers had the game locked up.

Even so, the results were much better than what the Lakers showcased last season or earlier in this campaign.

In 2024-25, Los Angeles produced the second fewest points per game off the bench with a disappointing mark of 26.2. In 2025-26, they are dead last in the NBA with only 25.3 points per game from their second unit to this point.

Redick getting the opportunity to leave either Doncic or a combination of James and Reaves should help balance the Lakers out. The stars in Los Angeles already have the formula in place to lead a revival of their depth scoring.

Since it’s the dog days and there’s no further moves the Lakers can make until 2026 (likely after the season on draft day) I figured I’d spend some time getting to know our new center, DeAndre Ayton. It’s safe to say that quite a lot is riding on Ayton at least replicating some aspects of his best seasons to date. Let’s break down his strengths, weaknesses, and x-factors in his game.

1) Ayton will work well in the pick and roll with all 3 of our playmakers. Google his shot profile and you’ll see that DeAndre is an above-average paint scorer. Get much further out and his efficiency plummets (although he shoots a shade above league average on straight away three pointers). His midrange and baseline game is nonexistent but he does possess a great touch around the rim, a solid floater and an array of hook shots that he uses when he can’t finish at the rim or on an offensive put back. This is welcome news for Luka, LeBron, Austin and coach Reddick. A lot of the Laker half court offense is geared around a variety of pick and roll actions and while Jaxson Hayes is probably the better dunker snd more athletic finisher, Ayton has a vastly superior arsenal of paint moves snd overall touch which means we won’t just be relying on lob dunks. That’s a good thing.

2) Average rebounder but solid. He’s no Andre’ Drummond but DeAndre can hold his own on the glass. He is certainly consistent as you can basically pencil him in for 10 boards/game (3 offensive/7 defensive for his career, roughly). Regardless, he’s a vast improvement over Jaxson Hayes who has yet to figure out how to crack the 5 rebounds/game barrier.

3) Defense. This one is tricky, his defensive rating is 110.3 for his career, which is a bit below Hayes’ 112. This is likely due to Hayes having better perimeter to paint coverage snd switching ability. Still, Ayton holds his own in the blocks and steals department because he has great hands for a center. I’m not counting on another level of defense he can achieve but if he can just put up his career numbers snd we have Jax in the wings for more mobile situations I think we’ll have a very workable defensive center situation. Not elite, or even above average, workable.

4) Role and work load. One hopes that Ayton has, for the most part, left his notions of being a back to the basket/post up dominator. Not because I don’t admire the low post game but because he’s better in the pick and roll. Having elite playmakers get him the ball in his spots just makes sense. I’d love to see LeBron and Rui post up more, they have the bag for it. DeAndre…notsomuch. He’s limited as a pick and pop option but he can be a pick and flip threat. He’s not remotely a stretch player and should the three as a last resort. On defense he needs to focus on getting those defensive rebounding numbers up and being a rim deterrent. His workload…that’s a tricky one. His career high in games played was his rookie year (71) when he was 20. Since then he’s played as few as 38 and not cracked 70 again. I’ll be happy with 65-70 games played. The calf injury should be well healed by now snd so he’s had a summer to get back to focusing on the game so we’ll see. His snd Vando’s health loom large as X factors for the entire season.

5) Speaking of X factors…. Ayton is a walking X factor for the Lakers. Probably no player besides Vanderbilt has a bigger question mark over them. For Ayton those questions come down more to his focus, approach, passion and grit. If I could Jarred Vanderbilt’s heart, spirit and grit in DeAndre’s body I’d have thenon the lab table in the spooky mad scientist lair, Erlenmeyer flasks and all, faster than you can Dr. Frankenstein. Any and all questions regarding DeAndre’s impact begin and end with the mental and heart side of the game. The intangibles, if you will.

I’ll conclude with this observation: Ayton has been a solid pillar on a winning team early in his young career. For reasons known and otherwise he wanted to leave Phoenix, had to stay and since then has seemed a shell of what one imagined he could become. He’s still young and has experienced two very different ends of the NBA spectrum in a short amount of time. He has every opportunity to redefine his story and make a boatload, or at least above average, amount of NBA money. Not All Star money. But solid. The ball is in his court.

My main take is: not surprising. I wasn’t sure if Luka valued locking up years or recouping lost wages. The 3 year extension will allow him to, eventually, recover the money lost in the trade.

The other thing I’ve been happy to see is how active he’s been in recruiting free agents. LeBron took a “I like that guy who’s also my pal!” approach. On the Lakers it hasn’t worked. So, while the jury will be out on how astute he is in the type of players he tries to recruit, he definitely helped us bring the most talented (which does not always mean impactful…) available players
in free agency.

All in all this is what both sides wanted and dare I say needed. Luka probably was not super excited to lose millions of dollars. The Lakers would not have been happy if this dragged on past August, bad look all around. So both sides won.

Michael and my discussion on the Lakers Fastbreak show yesterday got me thinking: how concerning are Dalton Knecht’s summer league struggles? Outside of a 4th quarter outburst in the first game of the California Classic, Knecht no-showed summer league. He missed outside shots, he missed inside shots, he missed contested shots and he missed open shots.

Let’s put this in perspective. It’s summer league, not the NBA. So, while one would hope he would dominate the fact of the matter is it’s borderline meaningless. While it would’ve been nice, and certainly helped his trade value, struggling in summer league does not determine one’s NBA trajectory. Austin Reaves struggled in his sole summer league affair, he turned out fine.

“But Bronny looked much improved and Dalton is a second year player…” and this would certainly be a valid point. It would be far more comforting and encouraging to see Dalton dominate rookie and G league talent. However, something to consider is that Dalton was likely the focus of every “defensive” scheme to stop him and take the ball out of his hands and run off him the three point line.

So now it gets down to Dalton and the summer league coaching staff not adjusting. That switches the biggest concern to missing open shots. Ok, not ideal, but not end of the world.

In some ways this might add fuel to his fire, and we’ll see what kind of fire that truly is come camp. It would be great if he came into camp and created a situation for the coaches where they can’t keep him off the floor.

He needs to focus on his defensive fundamentals and keep getting shots up. His rebounding has always been underrated so if he can stay active on the glass that will only help.

He may or may not want to stay a Laker, he can help his case for either a trade a bigger redemption role by playing solidly in camp and preseason. The Lakers could yet include him in a sign and trade for a player this summer (Brogdon comes to mind) or a trade (Thybulle is probably gettable but Vincent seems the more likely candidate there).

At any rate, the sky isn’t falling. It would have been great if Dalton dominated but he didn’t. All he need do now is not let this moment define him but rather let it fuel him and push him to greater heights.

Hinestly, I’m still sitting at a solid B for the offseason. Being that we’re the biggest market it makes sense buyout candidates would want to come here. Still, feels like, for one reason or another, we missed out on the best fits for our team.

I like Ayton, especially at this price point which feels like a pretty fair value for what he brings. Brook Lopez was the better fit, on both ends, and we coukdn’t make it happen. That one I put on LeBron as much as Rob but I do believe a stronger GM could’ve swung him here. We don’t have that GM.

I like Smart, again at a value that feels fair, but I think CP3 is a better veteran fit and I’m honestly not sure we didn’t let the better player in Goodwin walk. Time will tell on that one.

But if you’re thinking either player is much more than a one-year rental I really think you’re fooling yourself. Which means the same issues that have plagued the Pelinka front office from the get-go remian: no over-arching vision of what the team should be.

This feels a lot like the AARP Lakers of 4 seasons ago, after we won the title and brought in 237 over 30 vets and hoped they had one more shot in ’em. They didn’t snd we missed the playoffs entirely.

Jake LaRavia could be the best part of the summer. That’s not a home run, that’s a bloop single that somehow got stretched into a double on a throwing error.

I have high hopes for Vando after a summer and hopefully full camp. When he’s right physically we know what he can do on D and if he can make 35% of his corner threes there’s a consistent role for him.

At any rate, it’s an average summer for the Lakers thus far snd I still see us about where we were last season: sonewhere between 3 and 8. Whee.

1) Luka and Bam partying in Greece at a Michael Jordan event, Rui was there too! They’re all going to the Heat or we’re trading spare parts for Bam! Yay!

2) How solid Swider’s been playing in summer league. His rebounding has been pretty good, shooting as billed, good connector. Lot to like there. Probably gets snatched up by another team this season if he keeps playing like this.

3) The archaic nuances of the CBA. Whee!

4) Adam Silver’s Slytherin vibe. Seriously, you’d never get into Hufflepuff or Gryfindor, dude. Slytherin all the way.

5) How solid and in control Bronny James has looked. Again, summer league, but you can tell the man has been in the gym. His jump shot is more balanced and he just generally looks better prepared and more confident. Still gets sped up too easily but that should come in time.

6) The archaic nuances of the old CBA. Fuck it, let’s get old school and go back in time or something.

7) BAZE! Darius Bazely. Feels like we’ll keep Shake but maybe, just maybe, the Lakers are trying to work his non guaranteed deal into a Beal trade but that just feels like wishful thinking at this point. It’s clear nobody wants to do us a favor so unless cancelling out 3ish mil in cap space is the crux of everything I kinda doubt it. Anyhow, would just love to keep him on the team.

For the minimum…Solid, solid pickup who could have been great for us. These are the kind of things I’d be stoked for us to be doing right now. Rob can never swing these kind of things.

Evidently reputable journalists at BSPN now are required ro generate clickbait articles in order to keep their jobs? BTW BSPN isn’t a typo. I’m about 2 articles away from any fucking site from walking away for the summer because of how stupid and annoying all this has become. Let’s look……again……..at some what really are pretty simple facts.

1) LeBron has a No Trade clause. Meaning he will not go to a stripped down team with one other star and the last remianing MLE signed role-player. This was also implied in the Rich Paul press release. So for the love of fucking logic stop with any trades that have James end up in a city he won’t play in (any but San Fran, New York…not Brooklyn or LA). He is not going to Dallas. They are, at best, a year out from contending because of KI’s jnjury. Especially after they gut the roster which wouldn’t happen because of the optics of the Luka trade. Please, try and use basic logic, folks. Plus, any multi-player deal thatbbrings over 3-4 players would put the Lakers in a massive bind since our roster is already at 15. We can waive but one, solitary player with no penalties: Shake Milton. Everything else woukd require us to waive a player and take the cap hit. Not. Happening.

2) For like, the bajillionth time, the Lakers do not want to trade LeBron. “B-b-but they had a super secret than not secret at all meeting with Luka?!?!” Please. For one second I wish people would think. That dinner had to go down exactly like that. The Lakers are intentionally sending clear and vibrant signals that the top of the pecking order starts and ends with Luka. He did not ask to come here. He did not demand a trade. He was blind-sided and felt betrayed. The Lakers desperately need Luka to commit long term and they’re going to build trust by having him show up to a super secret but then not so secret dinner with the 41 year old face of the NBA and say “Heyyyyyy guy, you’re the man…he’s just here to pick the best bottle of grapes we’re sll gonna chug down. It’s cool, it’s alllllll coooooool”. That shit will not fly. Luka’s camp is looking for two things: winning and stability. So far everyone has said the right things but we all know what that amounts to in the world of pro sport.

3) This is all posturing. You know how I took the Rich Paul press release at first? Pro Forma, business as usual, standard operating procedure. Reading about some of the background now (LBJ not being consulted on the Williams trade, not being told of the sale, not getting an offer….even though he said from pretty mich the get-go he’d be picking upbthe option) it now reads like John Cusack holding a ghettoblaster over his head playing ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’. There is certainly a time limit on all of this and I, for one, applaud the Lakers for clearly stating their intentions of building around Luka. It sounds like, as akways, communication around certain issues could hsve been better but it’s also hard to argue that for the last few years the Lakers have willingly accomodated just about every single desire expressed by the James Camp. Now, they really have no choice but to start looking ahesd and they have done, with some big time Nico help, to be sure.

This is not necessarilly an ending, the Lakers are just making sure they have the strongest hand at the table next summer. A move on unexpected poise and power it reminds me of Dr. Buss who weathered more superstar tantrums than most teame dream of going through. LeBron may well retire a Laker if for no other reason than he has built a very comfortable life here in LA. While that may not be set in stone I ask you, what is?

Funny how folks seem to be making a mountain from a mole hill. I’m no Rob advocate but I don’t think we got burned in this. A future second round pick for nothing (Houston signed DFS using cap space, I believe) and I’m puzzled why folks are grasping at a player exception or, crazier still, a second round pick.

Anyhow, I get it that losing DFS for nothing sucks. It continues a troubling trend of the Pelinka front office, to be sure. But this wasn’t bad GMing, the player seemed to want to truly
move on. That’s it. I’m not going to see the Lakers pursue every chum and pal of Luka and call that intelligent.

It’s a bummer, yes, but that’s about it.

Would love a guard, someone who could be an above average in-ball defender. We have enough size now, it may not be elite but it’s what we have to work with. I can see some things will need to be worked out, especially if Ayton has another 40 some odd game season. My hope, and it’s pinning a lot on the fact that Portland is rebuilding, is that he missed as many games as he did because of an over-abundance of caution. It’s not a lotta hope, tho.

All in all, unless we add another young talent that can likely crack the rotation, it feels like we’re done and they’ll fill the roster out not having waived Shake (which is kinda odd, all things considered) with a low impact, minimum contract.

That would make my grade a C+. This off-season created as many questions as answers, left everyone wondering what direction the Lakers are going in, and makes me feel like Rob has a very, very short leash going forward.

One positive is that, come the deadline, we’ll have roughly 110-111 mil in expiring money (not counting Luka). Hard for me to see him not negotiate SOME kind of deal in August, if only to protect himself from injury, but you never know. If August comes and goes and no extension, Laker brass will be sweating atom bombs.

All of that is pressure in a GM who, historically, has under-performed in his role as a visionary and crafter of team identity. All of that is pressure on a second year coach who got his ass handed to him in the playoffs and seems to have a hard time doing the basic function of the job: connecting with his players. All of this is pressure on an incoming owner who will undoubtedly want to come in hot and ready for banner winning.

So we’ll see. If Reddick can grow, quickly, as a coach it would go a very long way in helping the team overall and get to where they want to be. If Luka comes in healthy, motivated and in full on leadership mode it’ll help. If Ayton plays like he did in his last contract season it’ll help.

So here’s hoping.

Rob’s out in the backyard literally turning over rocks waiting for some other GM to bail him out. Meanwhile all the ‘contend now’ centers are off the board, many of them squarely in our price range and us having a starting role to bequeath without competition.

The fact that Hayes is still out there is both a sign of our ineptitude and how much we seemingly blew it with him.

Luka’s working out, LeBron’s doing LeBron and there’s olllllld “Master Class” waiting for the tea leaves to dry while seemingly literally looking under stones.

It’d be funnier except, as Mongo astutely pointed out, this clownish futility all factors in to Luka re-upping for a quarter of a billion dollars.

If I know my absolute favorite GM he just might find a way to blow this, too. Incredible considering all we had to was hold onto one guy (DFS) and keep the phone lines open for a decent center or two…

Takes a lotta work to fuck up this much. Takes a lotta grace to fuck up this often and still have the job.

This has become real silly real quick. Rich Paul drops his standard “LeBron Wants to Win Now” press statement and planet Earth loses its shit. Let’s dig into why this is so much sound and fury signifying nothing.

1) LeBron is old. There will be zero teams ponying up alpha assets to toss at a player who will retire before some of the picks potentially used convey. This is a simple fact seemingly being ignored by, well, virtually everyone else.

2) LeBron can no longer take a team on a deep playoff run on his own. He honestly can’t even will a team into the playin, not anymore. AD wasn’t good enough to do it, even with LeBron and you can a big chunk of blame on the front office for several years of roster mismanagement. Of course The Westbrook deal comes to mind but that was just most egregious example of a front office that doesn’t have a clear notion of what the team identity needs to be.

3) The Kobe Konundrum. I feel like this is the 3rd or so time making this specific point here but evidently there’s still space between the nail head and the wood so let’s bang it down one more time: any team that trades for LeBron will decimate its roster to do so or trade their best player. For a 40 year old superstar that will not be happening.

4) The Lakers don’t want to trade LeBron. They want for every single record he breaks to be in a purple and gold jersey. They want his retirement tour to be as a Laker. They want to be the last team he plays for. He might technically retire a Cav (I could see them signing him on a vet minimum and then retiring) but it would be malpractice for them to gut the roster so he can take a personal victory tour. Not happening.

5) This is just more of Rich Paul doing what he does. Whenever he goes into an off-season where an extension is on the line he makes the media rounds with the same, basic statement: “the franchise needs to surround my max salaried player with the right pieces so he can win another title.” Surprise, that’s part of his job. Just like Rob and his “we’ll turn over every stone!” Quote he drops annually, this is just media posturing. That’s all any of this is and, since it’s a slow news day unless you’re paying attention to the real time dismemberment of our fragile democracy, it has dominated the news cycle. To me it’s all mildly funny but mostly boring and rehashed old BS.

Lastly, for anyone who wants to gripe that LBJ coulda taken a pay cut. While I feel I’ve addressed that ad nauseam let’s take one more whack at it. It’s not his job to build the team, it’s Rob’s. Rich Paul and LBJ did the Lakers a solid last summer and got bumped in the 1st round, after an all-in trade for Luka that signaled the Lakers preparing to move on from the era of The King. I’m sure that doesn’t sit great but I think James et al understand why because he had Luka on MTG podcast.

Put yourself in LeBron’s shoes, or try to. He takes a pay cut and suddenly he “bought” a title when he was old. Take a pay cut and you instantly lose street cred at every school and speaking engagement. Take a pay cut and you’re saying every sacrifice, every hour spent away from your family should be diminished because some rich white kids who inherited all of their success can’t figure out how to build a team around you without his specific sacrifice. If that isn’t a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with the planet right now I don’t know what the fuck else could be. LeBron has enough money? Tell that to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and every grifter in Congress voting for billionaire tax breaks right now. LeBron has and will continue to earn this paycheck. Try and be content with that before throwing other people’s money into the fire.