As the Lakers walked off the Crypto.com Arena court on April 30 after a disappointing five-game loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was clear that changes would need to be made following back-to-back seasons of first-round playoff exits.
Even with Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter buying the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family over the summer in a stunning deal that is expected to close before the end of the year, the Lakers didn’t feel they needed to make changes as drastic as the ones made in recent years:
• Firing Frank Vogel and hiring Darvin Ham during the 2022 offseason;
• Revamping the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis ahead of the 2023 trade deadline;
• Replacing Ham with JJ Redick as the head coach during the 2024 offseason;
• Trading Davis for 26-year-old Slovenian star Luka Doncic.
The Lakers’ modifications this past summer were milder – at least by their standards.
But arguably none were more important than the evolution Doncic experienced during the offseason.
Doncic was open about being emotionally and mentally exhausted after the Dallas Mavericks shockingly traded him to Los Angeles. He had spent the first 6 ½ seasons of his NBA career in Dallas and was the face of the franchise.
And it was evident last season that he wasn’t physically close to his best either, with Doncic, who has a history of left calf injuries, being sidelined for 1½ months because of a strained left calf.
But Doncic, who signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension with the Lakers in early August, enters his second season in Los Angeles and first full year with the Lakers holistically refreshed.
And he’s motivated by a disappointing 2024-25 after having led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals the previous season.
“There’s a ton of excitement for the opportunity to coach the best version of him and get the best version of him on a daily basis,” Redick said this month of Doncic, who NBA general managers voted as the second-most likely to win the league MVP award behind Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic in the annual preseason survey.
Redick added: “And I got to bring that out. That’s part of my job. He’s in a clear headspace. His body clearly is really good. He’s motivated by winning. I know this because I talk to him about it all the time. He’s motivated by winning, and if we win at a high level, he will be in that conversation for MVP.”
The Lakers’ confidence in their ability to contend for an NBA championship stems from more than simply having what they hope will be the best version of Doncic, a five-time first-team All-NBA honoree in his first seven seasons.
LeBron James, who’s entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season, is back with the Lakers after opting into his $52.6 million player option for 2025-26. James, who turns 41 in December, is coming off an All-NBA second-team selection, extending his record of receiving an All-NBA honor to 21 consecutive seasons.
Austin Reaves is coming off a season in which he was one of 13 players to average at least 20 points, 5.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds. Doncic and James were two of the 13.
“The word I would use would be share,” Redick said. “In a team sport, you have no choice but to share: share the basketball, share the spotlight, all those three guys have a ton of respect for each other’s skillsets, for each other’s abilities.”
The Lakers are optimistic that a full offseason, training camp and preseason helped further the chemistry that the star trio didn’t have time to develop last season.
“The more and more time that we’re together, the better we’re going to be,” James said. “It’s gonna be beneficial to us having that chemistry from Day One, which we will have because of how we was able to finish the season on last year.”
The Lakers have confidence their offseason additions filled holes in their roster: Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, to fortify their interior play and big man room after having to rely on smaller lineups for significant parts of last season; Marcus Smart, the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and three-time All-Defense honoree, for toughness, leadership and defensive intensity; Jake LaRavia, a 23-year-old first-round pick from the 2022 draft, for an infusion of youth and two-way, complementary play around the team’s main ball handlers and stars.
Even with James being sidelined the entire preseason and expected to miss the first few weeks of the regular season because of sciatica (nerve pain) on his right side, the Lakers are confident their roster is equipped to build off the 50-32 record and No. 3 seed in the Western Conference that they achieved last season despite it being Redick’s first year as a coach and the myriad of roster changes they went through.
Add in Redick’s emphasis since May about the team being in championship shape, and the Lakers are confident they can compete with the league’s best teams.
“Honestly, I think we have a great team,” Doncic said. “We have what we need to compete for the championship. I’ll try to win every game no matter what, and we got some new great guys on the team. We’re going to go for it.”