Despite dealing with a barrage of injuries, the Los Angeles Lakers are off to a 7-2 start to their 2025-26 campaign.
Lest we forget, so-called pundits and oddsmakers widely wrote off JJ Redick’s team before the start of the season. ESPN’s analytics-based simulation model predicted the Lakers would finish with a 36-46 record and miss the playoffs.
The Athletic’s David Aldridge, an esteemed writer and Hall of Famer, felt the Lakers had the 24th-best offseason, questioning their title chances. Aldridge contended that the Lakers’ additions of Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton wouldn’t move the needle and that the loss of Dorian Finney-Smith would be a huge blow.
CBS Sports Colin Ward-Henninger had the Lakers 11th in his list of title contenders, shockingly behind teams such as the Pistons, Magic and Clippers.
BetMGM, like other sportsbooks, set the Lakers’ over/under win totals at 46.5, behind teams such as the Hawks, Magic, Clippers and Pistons.
Lakers Building From Last Year
It’s easy to forget the Lakers won 50 games and clinched the third seed last year, even after the midseason trade that rocked the foundation of the team. Although their playoff run ended prematurely, in a gentleman’s sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers were primed to improve this season, especially with a skinnier Luka Doncic, blossoming star Austin Reaves and LeBron James refining their chemistry.
This Lakers team should legitimately be viewed as the third-best in the West, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder, the reigning champions, and the Denver Nuggets. And yet, they were widely considered inferior to an untested team like the Houston Rockets and the perennially injured Clippers, which seemed absurd to some.
Lakers Odds Have Skyrocketed
Upon watching Doncic and Reaves dazzle with their mastery through the first two weeks, analysts and oddsmakers are starting to believe in the Lakers — and rightfully so. The Lakers have jumped to sixth in title odds (+1400) after starting the season with the joint 12th-shortest odds. In fact, the Rockets, who started the season with the second-best odds, now rank behind the Lakers in the title picture.
On Wednesday, the Lakers improved to 7-2, overcoming the Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama, to rise to the second seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers will only get better when James, Reaves and Gabe Vincent return from their injuries.
Redick is proud of his team for surviving the injuries and remaining elite on both ends of the floor.
“I would say for [Doncic] and for the group, the word of the day is resiliency,” Redick said after Wednesday’s win, via The Athletic’s Law Murray.
“…And without Austin, without LeBron, his teammates are looking to him to kind of keep that resolve and keep that positive disposition. And he was able to do that throughout the game. Which look, that’s an area of growth. And I thought he was great with that tonight.”
The Lakers, on a five-game winning streak, will now begin a five-game road trip, starting with a stop in Atlanta on Saturday. Their true test will come against the Thunder on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
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