FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

LOS ANGELES – It’s no secret that the Lakers are a bad defensive team.

Los Angeles has a defensive rating of 117.1, sixth-worst in the NBA, and with all three of their stars being offensive juggernauts but with their defensive struggles, it’s difficult for the Lakers to ever lock down any team.

Thursday’s contest against the Hornets was the latest glaring example of that challenge.

Miles Bridges had himself a night, going 9-13 from the field for 25 points. LaMelo Ball looked like a bonafide superstar as he scored 30 points, 27 of those coming in the second half. Brandon Miller mercilessly attacked the paint and was met with little to no resistance, scoring 26 points as the trio led the Hornets to a blowout win.

“I think that in general with our team,” head coach JJ Redick said postgame, “against certain teams that have the dynamic drivers — which the Hornets have some really good drivers and they have a ton of shooting — we can be a little bit cautious guarding the ball.”

That caution led to disaster as the Lakers’ nine-point lead after one quarter flipped into a nine-point deficit in just a dozen minutes. The Hornets then took that momentum and turned it into an offensive onslaught.

Ball caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 15 points with his most impressive basket coming against DeAndre Ayton. The Chino Hills native had Ayton on an island at the top of the key, worked a little magic to get the big man backpedaling, then took a ridiculous step back three that had the crowd audibly gasping.

LaMelo slips FREE from his defender and hits the THREE

He’s up to 18 as the Hornets hold a slight lead in Q3! pic.twitter.com/mXMMlGpedD

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2026
“He hit some crazy shots, but that’s what he does,” Luka Dončić said. “He was shooting a lot of threes off the dribble, which we planned for that. He hit some crazy shots. Like I said, he does that. He got really hot he made eight threes in the second half. It’s kind of hard to stop him.”

While Ball is certainly an elite offensive player, the NBA is filled with guys like him who can get hot and take over a game.

It seems whenever the Lakers face one of those types of players, they take full advantage and exploit the holes in LA’s defense. And on this roster, there are plenty of options to choose from, regardless of whatever five-player lineup Redick concocts.

The reality might be that there is no solution for the Lakers’ defensive woes.

Perhaps they are simply too slow, too unathletic and too old to keep up with a league that seems to be getting bigger, younger and faster by the day. And no amount of rest, film work, or player desire can alter this team’s defensive trajectory.

However, that’s an uncomfortable truth they would never publicly admit. Instead, the focus has to be on being as physical as possible defensively and giving the kind of effort they had in their most recent win against the Hawks.

“We got to be able to adapt,” Marcus Smart said. “And that’s being able to understand that, no matter whether our shots are falling or not, we have to bring the physicality on both ends. The whole game.”

From Redick’s perspective, the Lakers have the effort and desire to execute their defensive schemes, but they just aren’t getting the job done.

This team, after all, features two superstars who are all about winning and are in the running for the most competitive players in the NBA.

However, that fire hasn’t been enough to slow teams down once they get going.

“We didn’t do a good job of containing the basketball at times, and then at times they made ridiculous shots,” Redick said. “We did three different coverages tonight, so it’s not like we’re not trying. We’re trying.”

What’s been made clear this season and specifically over the last week, though, is that no amount of trying is going to be able to cover up the team’s potentially fatal flaw

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Yesterday, Tom Haberstroh published a detailed piece on Yahoo about the NBA’s sudden free throw decline and the league-wide scoring dip that has followed. It immediately caught my attention, not just because I’ve been following Tom’s work on this topic since 2024, but because this has been sitting in the back of my mind all season. Especially with Luka Dončić opening the year living at the free throw line, leading the NBA with a career high 11.8 attempts per game.

Like Tom, a couple of events in January caught my attention. First, the January 9 loss to the Bucks, one of Luka’s roughest games of the season. An 8-for-25 night, visibly frustrated, struggling to finish through contact, engaged in an all night battle with the referees, as several familiar foul bait attempts turned into awkward, off balance misses without a whistle. Then, two days later, I watched Spurs vs Celtics, followed by Jaylen Brown’s now viral reaction to Boston taking almost no free throws, which became the centerpiece of Tom’s story. Two moments that, on the surface, feel unrelated, but together point toward the same underlying shift happening across the NBA.

I’d recommend everyone read Tom’s story. What I’ll try to add here are my own observations from the Lakers and Dončić perspective, and why this trend matters and is worth keeping in mind as the season develops.

This article is free. If you’ve been enjoying my work, upgrading to a paid subscription is the best way to support more data-driven analysis and breakdowns going forward.

Lakers at the forefront of a decade-long peak in free throw rate

The first thing worth highlighting is the broader state of the NBA and the 2025–26 season so far. Per Basketball Reference, the league is scoring 115.7 points per 100 possessions, the highest mark since this data began being tracked in the 1973–74 season. At the same time, free throw attempts sit at 24.0 per 100 possessions, the highest rate of the past decade, dating back to the 2015–16 season.

Source: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_poss.html

I don’t want to get into whether scoring is too easy or if defenses are at too big of a disadvantage. I’m simply highlighting that the trend of increasing offensive efficiency has continued this season, and that a significant spike in free throw rate compared to the previous two seasons has been a big part of it.

So why does this spike, and any potential reactionary adjustment in the way fouls and free throws are being called, matter more for the Lakers than for most teams? For starters, the Lakers have led the NBA in free throw rate both last season and again this year.

Austin Reaves, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis are all players who consistently draw fouls and get to the free throw line. Last season, Davis led the Lakers at 7.6 free throw attempts per game before the trade. He was then moved for Luka Dončić, who averaged 8.9 free throw attempts per game with the Lakers last season, further reinforcing how central free throws have been to this team’s offensive profile.

This season, Dončić’s free throw volume has climbed to a career high. He currently leads the league at 11.8 attempts per game and has been one of the clearest on-court blueprints behind the free throw spike seen across the NBA this year.

Shooting fouled percentage for Luka Dončić is at a career high (source: Cleaning the Glass)
Dončić getting to the line at that level, and converting them at a career high 79 percent, is a big reason, along with his efficiency inside the arc, why he has remained the NBA’s top scorer despite struggling with his three point shot this season.

NBA calibrating offense and defense on the fly

Per Cleaning the Glass, offensive efficiency steadily climbed through the first three months of the season before dropping off in January. Per Cleaning the Glass data league scoring rose from 115.2 points per 100 possessions in October to 116.0 in November and peaked at 116.7 in December. In January, that number fell to 114.4. The drop is noticeable and has naturally led to speculation about whether the league is reacting to the early-season scoring explosion by adjusting how the game is being officiated. As Haberstroh pointed out in his article, the decline in scoring has been accompanied by a steady drop in free throw rate that reached a new low point in January, fueling visible frustration from players like Brown and Dončić.

We have seen this before, with Luka at the forefront

Again, as Haberstroh explains in his piece, we’ve seen this before. He reported on a similar in-season adjustment in 2024, something I’ve referenced multiple times in past analysis and NBA trends pieces as well. That adjustment happened in March 2024, with commissioner Adam Silver later, somewhat reluctantly, confirming the league had made “a bit of an adjustment along the way.”

My Dončić and Lakers–specific angle here is that a month prior to that adjustment, on January 26, 2024, Dončić scored a career high 73 points in Atlanta. That performance sparked a wave of pundit discussion about whether scoring in the NBA had become too easy, or even a disgrace. I don’t know how much those loud voices contributed to the league’s adjustment, but the reaction that followed was evident.

Watching Luka’s free throw trend going forward

The early-season spike in free throw rate, both league-wide and for Dončić and Reaves (who reached a career high 8.6 free throw attempts per game before his calf strain) specifically, has been one of the more surprising and notable trends of the year.

I don’t have an issue with the NBA attempting to recalibrate, clean up the game, and make it a more enjoyable product to watch. And I’m not suggesting any adjustment is happening because of Dončić alone. Rather, he sits at the intersection of this discussion as one of the league’s highest-profile and most polarizing scorers.

Looking at his free throw attempts and shooting fouls drawn rates, there is a slight downward trend, though so far it has been less drastic than what we’re seeing across the league as a whole. He has finished with 10 or fewer free throw attempts in each of his last three games, though similar stretches have already shown up at points earlier this season.

Luka Dončić free throw attempts per game trend (source: pbpstats)

I think the bigger issue for Dončić, and for other players like Brown, is transparency and consistency, especially if or when bigger shifts are happening. I can understand the frustration of not getting the same calls later in January that were there earlier in the season, or, in Dončić’s case, not getting the whistles he received against the Spurs in the following game against the Bucks. Especially for an emotional, in-the-moment player like him, who has often struggled to adjust to a different night-to-night whistle.

Dončić allowing officiating to affect his play has been a persistent issue throughout his career, and it remains an area he needs to improve to become a more consistent game-to-game performer. In-season swings make that challenge even tougher, and if these trends continue, adapting to them will matter more for the Lakers than for most teams, given their roster composition and the profile of their stars, as the season unfolds.

From above article:

Fans wouldn’t like losing a favorite, but a swap could solve a lot of problems.

When your agent openly names and discusses trading one of your teammates, it’s never going to be a good look. That is what LeBron James has been forced to navigate amid his representative’s recent comments on the podcast Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul.

Paul openly floated the idea of trading Austin Reaves for Jaren Jackson Jr. Those comments, among many others, have not sat well with people around the Los Angeles Lakers. Reaves’ reps, in particular, took issue with what the Klutch Sports CEO had to say about their star player.

Dave McMenamin reported: “Reggie Berry of AMR Agency, approached Paul on the sideline near half court at halftime of the Lakers-Hawks game Tuesday. The two spoke for more than five minutes and the topic of conversation was Paul’s public trade scenario regarding Reaves, sources told ESPN.”

No one can really blame anyone from Reaves’ camp for being frustrated with the situation. Paul has stated in the past that his role on the show is not to be a mouthpiece for LeBron. Even with that sentiment being out there, James was forced to reassert that message.

“I think you all know by now, Rich is his own man and what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel,” James told McMenamin.

Rich Paul drama is complicating an already fragile Lakers situation
The part of the Reaves trade talk that looks bad, from an outsider’s point of view, would be the fact that him and James are both expiring contracts who will be competing head-to-head for the Lakers’ checkbooks this summer. The optics look rough.

Did Paul make his comments with that intent? That is impossible to say, and any accusatory statements of the matter is ultimately without full validity.

A few things are crystal clear here, by contrast. Reaves is on his way to a payday in Los Angeles. James is awkwardly having to defend himself because of his agent.

“AR knows how I feel about him,” James told ESPN.

That much should (hopefully for those two) be true. James and Reaves have always appeared to have a strong relationship from their interactions and how they about each other. The distraction is unnecessary all the same. For whatever it is worth too, swapping out the Lakers guard for JJJ would be a massive mistake.

The Lakers are still figuring out how to navigate a transition into the Luka Doncic era. Things are already complicated enough with an imperfect roster and set-up. Paul’s commentary about the team is not doing anyone any favors.

“It’s unfortunate having Jaxson gone, cause he’s really our momentum, energy guy. We don’t really see no dunks like that really, from the center position. So, Jaxson is the main dude when it comes to that momentum, and getting the crowd involved”Ayton on Jaxson Hayes being out pic.twitter.com/L57670M7By— 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅 (@PurpGolded) January 14, 2026

“I’m glad we had another game to be honest. That’s the good thing about these back to back, and being in the NBA. You always have to be ready for the next, and flush out the last one so, I’m happy we got the chance to renew ourselves at home. And the fans get to see us play hard… pic.twitter.com/M3E7LpSPEr— 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅 (@PurpGolded) January 14, 2026

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The law of averages worked in the Lakers’ favor in their win over the Hawks on Tuesday.

It’s no secret that the Lakers are a team that struggles with shooting. They shoot a league-worst 33.7% from beyond the arc and that poor shooting is one of the reasons they entered Tuesday’s game on a three-game losing streak.

It’s been said time and time again that the NBA is a make-or-miss league. In theory, if you have the shooters and the right system, eventually, shooting slumps will end.

For the Lakers, that moment finally came against the Hawks as they blew them out 141-116 at home on the second night of a back-to-back. Because of their shooting, the result of this game was a foregone conclusion before the first half was over.

Los Angeles caught fire from deep midway through the second quarter. It started with Luka Dončić knocking back-to-back threes, snarling while jogging back on defense.

Jake LaRavia scored on a bank shot during the following possession, and then the avalanche of threes ensued. Marcus Smart hit one, LaRavia followed and, just like that, the LA advantage was up to 21.

Los Angeles entered halftime with 81 points. It was the most they have scored in any half this season and an example of the Lakers executing on the vision head coach JJ Redick set for the team during their pregame meeting.

“We all collectively — coaches, players — we got to a good place to go compete and go compete together and go play for each other,” Redick said. “And that was evident to start the game.”

The Lakers cooled off a bit after the red-hot opening half, but it didn’t matter. The lead never fell below double figures and LeBron put on his closing act in the fourth, allowing the Lakers to eventually empty their bench.

LA’s 19-34 shooting from 3-point range was not only in stark contrast to how the Lakers have performed throughout the season, but even the night before.

In their Monday loss to the Kings, the Lakers went 8-36 beyond the arc and a pair of those makes came from Bronny James in garbage time. Los Angeles losing to a rival Sacramento team that is 20 games below .500 wasn’t a good look.

Tuesday’s shooting display, however, was a reminder that creating good looks has to be the key and that shooting is a fickle thing. It can flip from bad to good in the blink of an eye.

“I think we generated a lot of good looks,” Luka said. “Even in past games, we just didn’t knock shots down.”

In an 82-game schedule, the Lakers have to find different ways to stack wins.

Sometimes it’s Luka going on a tear and other times it will be LeBron. In other games, a player like Austin Reaves will bail the Lakers out with a game-winner, or a surprise hero like Nick Smith Jr. will have a career night.

Against the Hawks, the Lakers did it collectively and they did it in a way they typically haven’t this year.

This isn’t some “eureka” moment for the Lakers that unlocks endless possibilities for them moving forward. But it is a reminder that the process of creating open looks, as flawed as the results may be at times, is sound.

It’s just a matter of if the Lakers make or miss them.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The deadline will show no mercy

The Los Angeles Lakers have spent weeks drawing scrutiny for their inconsistency, defensive lapses, and internal tension. On many nights, they look like a team headed toward a major shakeup. Yet the standings tell a very different story.

Despite their struggles, the Lakers sit third in the Western Conference, a position that fundamentally alters their trade calculus. Rather than signaling panic, their record suggests opportunity. For a franchise built around championships, being this high in the standings makes a deadline move more likely, not less.

Winning enough to believe, losing badly enough to worry

The Lakers’ last ten games capture the contradiction perfectly. They have picked up quality wins against the Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and Sacramento Kings, showing they can score in bunches and close games when execution is sharp.

At the same time, their losses have been alarming. Blowout defeats against the Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Clippers highlight a troubling pattern. When the Lakers lose, they often collapse defensively, offering little resistance once momentum turns.

Statistically, they remain among the league’s worst defensive teams. Perimeter containment is unreliable, transition defense breaks down too easily, and rotations frequently arrive late. Those issues are survivable in January. They are fatal in May.

Why Austin Reaves is suddenly central to Lakers trade talks

Another development quietly reshaping the Lakers’ plans is the injury to Austin Reaves. Before going down, Reaves was playing the best basketball of his career and was on a legitimate All-Star trajectory. Around the league, his value has never been higher.

That creates a harsh reality. The Lakers’ so-called Big Three of LeBron James, Reaves, and Luka Dončić has not consistently worked. Lineups featuring all three have struggled to defend, and the offense often flows better when only two are on the floor while the third sits.

In theory, LeBron could scale back into a 10-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist role to improve balance. In practice, that kind of adjustment is not typical for him, especially for a team built around his decision-making. With LeBron holding a no-trade clause, the front office’s flexibility is limited.

That leaves Reaves as the most realistic high-value trade chip. His contract, age, and efficiency make him attractive to multiple teams, particularly those seeking a secondary creator who does not dominate possessions. Moving him would not reflect dissatisfaction with his performance, but rather an acknowledgment that roster balance and defense are bigger priorities.

Lakers chemistry concerns are accelerating the timeline

The recent controversy surrounding head coach JJ Redick has only intensified the urgency. Public criticism, locker-room frustration, and visible defensive indifference rarely coexist in stable contenders. When chemistry issues surface alongside poor defense, front offices tend to act sooner rather than later.

A trade has not happened yet, but the direction is becoming clearer. Sitting third in the West removes excuses for patience. The Lakers are not trying to fix a broken team. They are trying to sharpen a flawed contender before the window narrows further.

If a deal comes, it will likely center on defense and fit rather than star power. And if Austin Reaves is the one moved, it will be because the Lakers believe standing still poses a greater risk than making a difficult choice before the deadline.

JJ Redick says that Kobe Bufkin WILL get opportunities over the next 10 days, per @DStarkand pic.twitter.com/La3vk1klf5— LakersMuse (@LALMuse) January 14, 2026

"AR knows how I feel about him," LeBron James told ESPN about Austin Reaves, his longest-tenured teammate. "All you got to do is look at us on the bench. Me and AR talk every single day.” https://t.co/6IOJlejIAL— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 14, 2026

JAKE LARAVIA TONIGHT 🧩 36 minutes 🧩 17 points 🧩 4 rebounds 🧩 3 assists 🧩 3/4 3PTIS HE A STARTER LOCK? pic.twitter.com/ssPDioCdAr— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) January 14, 2026

LeBron James in win vs. Hawks:31 PTS10 AST9 REB60% FGIn his first back-to-back of the season.Averaging 26/7/7 on 52% FG since turning 41.pic.twitter.com/4QvR2RhOKr— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) January 14, 2026

LeBron James in win vs. Hawks:31 PTS10 AST9 REB60% FGIn his first back-to-back of the season.Averaging 26/7/7 on 52% FG since turning 41.pic.twitter.com/4QvR2RhOKr— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) January 14, 2026

Jake LaRavia tonight:17 Points4 Rebounds 3 Assists 6/10 FGM3/4 3PM2/2 FTM+13 +/-36 Minutes pic.twitter.com/Qu4u9crAiX— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 14, 2026

GABE VINCENT TONIGHT 14 minutes 10 points 1 assist 3/5 3PT +8 +/-DO YOU SEE THIS @NBA pic.twitter.com/q281CRoAev— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) January 14, 2026

Tonight the @Lakers' starting lineup combined for:100+ points40+ rebounds30+ assists10+ threes made60.0+ FG%No other starting five in NBA history has done that in a game.— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) January 14, 2026

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Luka’s got another soft tissue injury.

The Los Angeles Lakers had a disappointing loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, despite Luka Doncic going off for 42 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. Number 77 was virtually the only Laker who had it going in Sacramento, but fans saw him laboring in the second half. Doncic admitted to dealing with another soft tissue injury after the final whistle.

Calf issues are the most worrisome for Luka as he has dealt with several in recent years, but this one appears to be more in his upper leg. Fans saw him wearing a massive wrap whenever he went to the bench. It did not hurt his production on Monday night, but this is the last thing the Lakers need amid a rough stretch.

Nothing is changing the absolute brilliance of the trade. Luka is in the running for MVP and is unquestionably one of the five best players in the world. Anthony Davis is injured, and Lakers fans don’t want to see number 77 join him on the shelf. This issue certainly puts LA in a difficult spot moving forward.

Luka Doncic admits to dealing with another soft tissue injury

In his postgame presser, Luka had this response to a question about his current health.

“Yeah, I was really uncertain. Before the game warming up, I felt something. I was just trying to get warm and get going. But tomorrow, we will see how I wake up.”

Dave McMenamin followed up by asking about whether it was his inner thigh/groin, and Luka admitted it “somewhere in there”.

The Lakers didn’t lose to the Kings because of Luka. He had a monster 40-point game, including going 16 of 29 from the field. Head coach JJ Redick made a baffling decision, and Sacramento shot the lights out. Los Angeles made nine fewer 3-pointers, which was a killer in a 12-point game.

The Lakers now have a difficult decision to make heading into Tuesday’s game versus the Hawks. LeBron James is almost certain to be out as he continues to sit in one half of back-to-back sets. LA also has five games in seven nights this week. If they sit Luka, the Lakers are all but guaranteed to lose. After dropping seven of the last 11, another defeat is the last thing the franchise needs right now.

The Lakers can’t risk Luka’s latest issue turning into something bigger. He is the team’s best player and is leading the NBA in scoring. Los Angeles is only going as far as Doncic carries them this season. It is why the last thing fans want to hear is about another soft tissue injury for their 26-year-old superstar.

Austin Reaves is already out, and Rui Hachimura is set to return from a seven-game absence on Tuesday night. The Lakers are struggling to win with multiple starters out. Things will only get worse if number 77 has to miss any time.

Luka Doncic admitted to dealing with another soft tissue injury that he tweaked in the pregame. Los Angeles Lakers fans should be terrified that this turns into something bigger for the superstar.

They can’t afford for Luka to sit, but the franchise must prioritize the long-term with the face of their franchise. Either way, fans won’t like it. Don’t be surprised to see him miss some time, but the only thing fans know for certain is the fear his comments caused. Hopefully, Doncic is back to full strength soon.