Lakerholics

If the Lakers want to legitimately compete for the NBA championship this season, rookie head coach JJ Redick needs to quickly figure out how to fix the Lakers’ broken offense and defense in time to excel in the playoffs.

Offensively, the Lakers were expected to be an immediate juggernaut with a starting Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves. The challenge for the Lakers was supposed to be defensively, not offensively. During the two months from January 6 to March 6, half of which included Anthony Davis and half Luka Doncic, the Lakers posted a solid 116.4 OffRtg (#11), a league-best 109.3 DefRtg (#1), and a top-five +7.1 NetRtg (#5).

Then LeBron was injured against the Celtics on March 8th and the Lakers proceeded to lose 8 of their next 12 games before rebounding against the Grizzlies last night, going from 40–21 and 2nd in West to 45–29 and 4th.
During the last 13 games, which included 8 games LeBron James missed, 4 where he struggled, and the last one where he appeared to be himself, the Lakers posted 114.5 OffRtg (#16), 119.6 DefRtg (#21), and -5.1 NetRtg (#22).

The Lakers’ struggles at both ends during the 12 games where James was either out or struggling to come back raised questions whether the team’s two-month reign as the league’s #11 offense and #1 defense was a mirage.
Critics claimed the energy and effort the Lakers were making on defense was not sustainable and noted that, even with LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves, the Lakers were still just a middle-of-the-pack offense.

The big challenge facing Lakers’ rookie head coach JJ Redick right now is how to fix the team’s broken offense and defense. Here are the five major changes Redick must make for Lakers to steal the NBA championship.

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1. Get LeBron James 100% Healthy For Playoffs

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The most important change the Lakers will need to win in the playoffs is a healthy LeBron James. While players are never 100% after the grind of the regular season, L.A.’s offense and defense needs a healthy LeBron James

While the Lakers obviously struggled during the 8 games James missed and the 4 games where he was still trying to get into game condition, his play last night against the Grizzlies was hopefully a sign the King is almost back.
While LeBron’s points dropped, he’s kept his boards and assists during this stretch. Problem was shooting (3 of 24 from deep for 12.5%) and advanced stats, where he went from solid 113.4/107.6/+5.8 to poor 112.7/123.8/-11.1.

Redick had found the perfect formula for how to transform a Lakers’ starting lineup with Doncic, James, and Reaves into the NBA’s #11 offense and #1 defense by having LeBron replace AD as team defensive captain.
While the team’s schedule was brutal and they missed other players like Rui Hachimura, it was the injury to LeBron, who was making everything work, that derailed a dangerous Lakers’ juggernaut that nobody wanted to face.

That’s why the Lakers need to continue to prioritize playoff health over playoff seeding. They still have the second toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, with two more pairs of roster-breaking back-to-back games.
The Lakers need to ignore whatever seeding drama is going on in the Wild West and commit to making sure that LeBron James is as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs, even if it means resting him down the stretch.

While the Los Angeles Lakers do need to win enough games to stay out of the Play-In Tourney, LeBron James’ playoff health is far more important than the Western Conference playoff seed Los Angeles ends up winning.

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2. Optimize Minutes Luka & LeBron Play Together

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JJ Redick’s second most important change will be to optimize the minutes on the court together of two of the smartest and greatest iconic point guards in the history of the NBA in LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

In 26-year old Luka Doncic and 40-year old LeBron James, JJ has two of the smartest and greatest point guards to ever play the game of basketball and needs to decide when to play them together and when to stagger them.
That Doncic is literally a younger clone of the 40-year old James and both are at their best when ball dominant seems to call for staggering them to avoid redundancy and make sure one superstar is on court all the time.

But two factors are pushing JJ to play James and Doncic together. The first is the offense/defense balance JJ wants in every lineup. While they’re clones offensively, LeBron can be a legitimate superstar defensively.
The second factor is the one tantalizing play between LeBron James and Luka Doncic that Lakers’ coach JJ Redick has deliberately not shown yet: the potentially unstoppable Luke Doncic and LeBron James pick-and-roll.

While the sample size is statistically small, superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic have played a total of 367 minutes in 15 regular season games during which they posted a 111.6 OffRtg, 114.1 DefRtg, and -2.5 NetRtg.
Redick clearly needs to figure out how to get the LeBron and Luka lineups to be the juggernauts they should. If that means not having one of them on the court all the time, the Lakers are lucky they can rely on Austin Reaves.

The Lakers need to optimize the minutes their best two players LeBron James and Luka Doncic play together even if it means relying on Austin Reaves to carry the load alone when the two superstars are on the bench.

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3. Limit Minutes Lakers’ Big Three Play Together

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Figuring out how to best deploy and take advantage of the Lakers’ Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves is JJ Redick’s next most important move to get the Lakers playing like NBA champions.

Simply stated, there’s a strong argument that teams with three stars would be smart to prioritize having two of their three stars on the court together for 48 minutes of every game rather than playing all three stars together.
Playing three ball-dominant offense-first players on court together when there is only one basketball is not a formula for playing efficient offense or for building a balanced lineups that can defend as well as score the ball.

The big question after the Lakers’ blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic was whether a starting lineup with three elite offense-first players in Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves could win the championship.
JJ Redick’s major change to improve the Lakers’ starting lineup’s defense was to turn over running the offense to Luka Doncic so LeBron James would be free to replace Anthony Davis as the team’s defensive captain.

While the sample size is small, the Lakers’ Big Three of James, Doncic, and Reaves have so far played a total of 247 minutes in 13 regular season games during which they posted a 113.4 OffRtg, 119.4 DefRtg, and -6.1 NetRtg.
The Lakers would get better balance productivity by limiting minutes by the Big Three together and instead making sure LeBron and Luka, LeBron and Austin, or Luka and Austin are on court all 48 minutes of every game.

Redick would be smart to limit minutes on court together by the Lakers’ Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves to the start of each half and prioritize having two of three stars on the court at all times.

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4. Convert Jemison & Koloko As Backup Center

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Size matters and the Lakers’ lack of a trusted backup center for Jaxson Hayes is one of their greatest vulnerabilities. The Lakers need to convert Trey Jemison’s and Christian Koloko’s two-way to standard contracts.

The lack of a proven backup center has been a major problem for the Lakers for several seasons. The decision to rescind the trade for Mark Williams left the Lakers seriously undermanned at the center position.
While Jaxson Hayes has stepped up to become one of the team’s best role players, the team has struggled whenever he has to go the bench to rest and Redick has been hesitant to utilize two-way centers Jemison and Koloko.

The result has been a mixed bag of weird small ball lineups with James, Vanderbilt, or Finney-Smith at the five that have struggled to win games or fans’ hearts at opposing teams dominate them in the post and off the glass.
The Laker would be smart to waive center Alex Len and shooting guard Shake Milton and sign two-way centers Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko to standard NBA contracts so they would become eligible for the playoffs.

Jemison and Koloko provide complete different but needed center skillsets. Trey Jemison is more of a traditional big body bruiser center who’s not afraid to bang with anybody or defend any teammate that’s being abused.
Christian Koloko, on the other hand, is more of a lob dunk threat like Jaxson Hayes. What he does bring to the table that Jemison does not is the ability to be a great lob dunk threat, especially playing with Luka Doncic.

The Lakers converted two-way guard Jordan Goodwin to a standard NBA contract so he’ll be eligible for the 2025 playoffs. They should do the same for Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko to add desperately needed size.

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5. Run More Plays & Less Freelancing On Offense

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One of the major challenges for NBA coaches with superstars like LeBron James and Luka Doncic on their roster is convincing the team to run more efficient set plays rather than just allowing the superstars to freelance.

NBA analysts following the Lakers believe Los Angeles scores more points per possession running set plays than allowing the team’s superstars to freelance, which often leads to isolation play and slower ball movement.
There’s no question there have been times when the Lakers offense seems to go into a funk where they just cannot generate a high percentage shot. Those are the times when it makes sense to have the team run a set play.

One of the benefits of Luka Doncic taking over control of the ball and the Lakers’ offense is we’re likely to see the team run more pick-and-roll plays and specific plays designed to get easy lob dunks and open 3-point shots.
With James focusing on playing more off the ball on offense and taking on the responsibility of replacing Anthony Davis as the Lakers’ defensive captain, look for Redick to increase the percentage of set plays to be run.

The NBA is a matchup league and teams not only need diverse players with the skill sets to match up against different opponents but also diverse play calls that can work against different types of defenses they will face.
Balancing running set plays specifically designed to work against specific’s opponents’ weaknesses with trusting the world’s greatest athletes to make the right read and right call in on-court chaos is often very difficult to do.

While the Laker have two of the best playmaking point guards in the history of the NBA in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, they’d be smart to run set plays involving all five players than letting their stars freelance.

There’s nothing wrong with the Lakers’ top rated defense that getting back a healthy, conditioned, and defensively engaged LeBron James cannot fix. LeBron James is why the Lakers ‘D’ did not miss a beat after trading AD.

The Lakers held the #1 NBA defensive rating for two straight months until LeBron was injured in a loss to Boston in early March. Since then, L.A. has lost 7 of their last 10 games and slipped from #2 to #4 seed in the West. During that 10-game slide, which included 8 games LeBron missed and 2 where he struggled, the Lakers once top rated defense slipped from #1 in the league to #23 as the team desperately missed its Director of Defense.

After a pair of lackluster games, especially defensively, the Lakers need the LeBron James who, after passing the offensive baton to Luka Doncic, took over as the team’s defensive leader and best defender from Anthony Davis.
During that two month reign as the NBA #1 defense, it was LeBron James’ leadership orchestrating the Lakers’ team defense, calling out plays and switches, and taking on major roles defending opponents’ best players.

Teams have adjusted their spacing to make it harder for the Lakers to deploy their trap, rotate, and swarm defense. There will still be times when poor shooting teams like the Magic will beat the odds and shoot lights out.
The West is tough and LeBron and the Lakers need to get their defensive mojo back. They can’t allow 3 losses to turn into a 6-game losing streak.

So let’s take a closer look at what the Lakers need from LeBron James as their Director of Defense to beat the red-hot Pacers who have won 5 straight and the sizzling Bulls who’ve won 3 straight in a Wed/Thu B2B.

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Better Point-of-Attack Team Defense

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In JJ Redick’s new defense, LeBron James’ role is similar to that of a middle linebacker or free safety in football. He’s the Lakers’ Director of Defense, the play caller who anticipates, directs, and choreographs the defense.

Preventing ball handlers from penetrating the defense and getting into the paint is the first principle of any successful defensive strategy. In a team point-of-attack defense, primary and help defenders need to work as one.
The primary defender needs to stay in front of the man he is guarding and the help defenders on each side need to shade towards the ball handler to build a potential wall to keep the ball hander from getting by his defender.

One of the strengths the Lakers defense has missed during the last 10 games has been LeBron James ability to be a primary shut down defender, especially on mid-range jump shooting wings like Leonard or Booker.
The Lakers also missed LeBron’s ability as a helper to anticipate what’s going to happen and jump into the passing lanes to make a steal to ignite a fast break or draw a charge or make a game-saving chase down block.

The Lakers clearly need a fully engaged LeBron James if they’re going to get their defense back to playing like a #1 defense in the league. Hopefully, the disappointment of the last 2 games will increase the Lakers’ urgency.
The Lakers need everybody not only to be 100% healthy but also 100% engaged. Teams have obviously adjusted and are spacing the floor to make it harder for the Lakers to rotate in time to prevent wide open 3-point shots.

It would be great if LeBron could take his time to get back into full game condition but losing the last 3 games and 7 of the last 10 has unfortunately put the Lakers’ strategy of valuing playoff health over seeding to a real test.

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Better Guard And Wing Rotations

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The Lakers’ defensive strategy of doubling, rotating, and swarming when teams try to switch hunt their weaker defenders requires the five defensive players to act as one unit with everybody working together like on a string.

Playing an aggressive proactive type of defense like the Lakers are doing requires elite communication and coordination between all five defenders, which is something often takes seasons to teach, develop, and establish.
To work best, it needs the same thing any good offense or defense needs: players who believe in the system, have the smarts and anticipation to run the the system, and talent and athleticism to properly execute the plays.

As the Director of Defense, LeBron has been able to be the choreographer of the Lakers’ trapping, rotating, and swarming half-court defense. You can see him calling out the play and directing players to start their rotations.
Playing this kind of a defensive system, JJ has been able not only to give high basketball IQ players like Reaves and Doncic a defensive system that takes advantage of their smarts but also protects them from being hunted.

The Lakers trapping, rotating, and swarming team defense is designed first to stop the ball handler from shooting a three or getting into the lane. While that is happening, the team’s other defenders must start to rotate.
Ideally, they know ahead when the team is going to trap or double so they can anticipate where the next pass is going to go and hopefully be there to deflect or intercept it to ignite an easy fast break or transition bucket.

Finally, while LeBron James will never be the shot blocker or rim protector that Anthony Davis was, he’s already shown that he can take the torch from AD and become the Lakers’ defensive anchor and Director of Defense.

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Better Shot Blocking & Rim Protection

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While Jaxson Hayes has been outstanding as the Lakers’ starting center, coach JJ Redick has been hesitant to commit to either Christian Koloko or Trey Jemison as the backup center, despite being bulled at small ball.

Unfortunately, the small ball lineups JJ Redick has opted to play have not enjoyed much success against teams with a big physical low post center, especially when his best small ball five in LeBron James is not available.
The Lakers would be smart to convert young two-way center Christian Koloko to a standard contract so the team could have a legitimate 7-footer to backup Jaxson Hayes whenever he had to go to the bench to rest.

Until LeBron was injured, the Lakers were 16th in the league with 4.0 blocks per game and allowing just . Over the last 10 games, the Lakers shot blocking dropped to 30th in the league with just 2.9 blocks per game.
Same with opponent points-in-the-paint. When their defense was #1, the were 2nd in opponent points-on-the-paint. Last 10 games, they fell to 17th. Size and length matters in the NBA. Lakers need Koloko to backup Hayes.

The Lakers would be smart to backup Jaxson Hayes at center with Christian Koloko to give Luka and LeBron a quality lob target and also with LeBron James as a small ball five surrounded by four dead-eye 3-point shooters.
When the Lakers need a bruiser with a big body at center, LeBron James will still be JJ Redick’s preferred option to play small ball five if they opt to play a small ball lineup. LeBron James is still lethal as a point center.

The Lakers need to shore up their shot blocking and rim protection when their staring center goes to the bench by either backing up Jaxson Hayes with Christian Koloko or with LeBron James playing as small ball five.

The Lakers’ chances of winning their 18th NBA championship this season will likely depend on whether guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves can develop into a championship backcourt both offensively and defensively.

Early signs are promising as coach Redick has implemented schemes that take better advantage of Luka’s and Austin’s high basketball IQ and the two players have responded with improved defensive effort and performance. Redick’s new defensive scheme is designed to trap, rotate, and swarm any ball handler who tries to switch hunt a vulnerable defender like Austin Reaves or Luka Doncic. Lakers will no longer leave defenders on an island.

To make the new trap, rotate, and swarm anti-switch hunting defense work, the Lakers have also had to change how their centers defend pick-and-rolls. Lakers centers are no longer playing traditional drop coverage defense.
Instead, JJ wants his centers to be proactive rather than reactive, which means hedging, trapping, or blitzing the ball handler instead of switching and then trusting their swarming defensive rotations to create turnovers.

Redick wants his defense to be both the Lakers’ identity as a team and the engine that drives their offense. He wants his guards and wings trapping, rotating, and swarming and his centers attacking and intimidating.
The evolution of the Lakers’ defense under Redick has been amazing. After playing around with switch-everything and double-big schemes, JJ has now committed to an attacking trapping, rotating, and swarming team defense.

So can Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves become a championship defensive backcourt? Let’s see what analytics says about the Lakers’ new defense and see whether their ‘playoff health over playoff seeding’ strategy is working.

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What Does Analytics Say About Lakers’ New Defense?

The Los Angeles Lakers’ sudden development into one of the best defensive teams in the league despite having traded DPOY candidate Anthony Davis for dynamo offensive superstar Luka Doncic has the NBA entire befuddled.

Rookie head coach JJ Redick deserves all the credit in the world for the dramatic emergence of Lakers’ defense as one of if not the best defense in the league as does LeBron James, who’s the L.A.’s new Director of Defense.
How ironic that Redick’s first major coaching breakthrough was on defense and not offense? Adding Finney-Smith, Goodwin, Vincent, and Vanderbilt certainly helped but it’s JJ’s genius moves that transformed L.A.’s defense.

From February 1st, when they traded for Luka Doncic, through March 8th, which is when LeBron James was injured, the Lakers posted an elite team defensive rating of 107.7, the #1 defensive rating in the entire league.
During this period, the Lakers successfully shut down elite scorers like Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Naz Reid, Karl-Anthony Towns, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant.

While the team had an elite 107.7 team defensive rating after trading for Luka and before LeBron getting injured, Luka Doncic posted an elite 106.3 (#4) while Austin Reaves posted a respectable 108.8 (#8) defensive rating.
While neither Luka or Austin are elite 1-on-1 defensive players, both are extremely intelligent and have great on-court anticipation. Redick’s new defensive scheme protects them and they’ve responded with great effort.

While their defense has slipped to 5th since LeBron was injured, the Lakers will finally be 100% healthy when they play the Bulls on Saturday night. Finally healthy, Lakers are now looking to lock up the #2 seed in the West.

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How Is ‘Playoff Health Over Seeding’ Strategy Working?

The Lakers gamble to prioritize playoff health over playoff seeding appears to have paid off. After finally finishing a grueling 3 back-to-backs in a row and 6 games in 8 days stretch, the Lakers are finally close to 100% healthy.

The #4 Los Angeles Lakers are essentially tied with the #3 Denver Nuggets with 26 losses, 1 loss behind the #2 Houston Rockets, 1 loss ahead of the #5 Memphis Grizzlies, and 3 losses ahead of the #6 Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers already hold tie breakers over the Nuggets, Grizzlies, Warriors, Clippers, Wolves, Kings, and Suns. They have 2 games left against the Houston Rockets and need to win both of those games to win tie breaker.

While the Lakers are entering their 13-game stretch run healthier than they’ve been all season with both Luka and LeBron rested and ready to go, the Nuggets’ Jokic and Murray are both still struggling with injuries.
The Lakers remaining schedule has tough games against Grizzlies, Rockets (2), Warriors, Pacers, and Thunder (2). The Nuggets remaining schedule includes Rockets (2) , Bucks, Pacers, Timberwolves, Warriors, and Grizzlies.

Heading into the regular season stretch run, expect the Los Angeles Lakers to continue to play their normal starting lineup of Luka Doncic at 1, Austin Reaves at 2 , Rui Hachimura at 3, LeBron James at 4, and Jaxson Hayes at 5. Healthy, the Lakers will likely expand their 9-man rotation to a 10-man rotation with Gabe Vincent backing the 1, Jordan Goodwin the 1, Dalton Knecht the 3, Dorian Finney-Smith the 4, and Jarred Vanderbilt the 5.

Ideally, a 100% healthy #4 Los Angeles Lakers should be able to win enough games down the stretch to overtake both the #2 Houston Rockets and #3 Denver Nuggets and lock up the #2 seed in the Western Conference.

While a small sample size, 24-year old Jaxson Hayes has become the Lakers’ most valuable role player after big stars Doncic, James, and Reaves. He now has a legitimate chance to become the next great Lakers’ center.

The Lakers have now won 17 of the 20 games that Jaxson Hayes has started at center. During those 20 starts, Hayes averaged 8.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 turnovers, 0.7 steals, 1.2 blocks in 24.5 minutes per game. Hayes shot 73.0% from the field, 0.0% from three, and 66.7% from the line. He posted a strong offensive rating of 116.0 (#13 among centers), an elite defensive rating of 104.6 (#1), and a top-5 net rating of +11.4 (#4).

Hayes’ play has been one of the key factors in the Lakers recent rise to the top-5 contenders to win this year’s NBA championship. Having Hayes rise to the occasion solved the dilemma of whom would start for the Lakers.
But the Lakers still haven’t solved who’s going to play center when Jaxson’s on the bench resting or out with an injury during the recent 4-game losing streak. Right now, Hayes and Koloko are the Lakers’ center rotation.

On the court, Jaxson has not only won the love of Lakers’ fans but also the heart of newly acquired superstar Luka Doncic. Luka has long excelled at pounding defenses with dunk lobs to high flying centers and wings.
The timing and chemistry the two have already created has been electric. Last night’s game against the Phoenix Suns was a perfect example of what an unexpected great fit at center Jaxson Hayes has become in a short time.

There’s no question the Lakers also need a big bodied center who can bang with Jokic and Sabonis as well as a stretch center who can space the court to provide a deep and versatile championship caliber center rotation.
Whether the Lakers pursue a big body like Walker Kessler and/or a stretch five shot and playmaker like Kelly Olynyk, Jaxson Hayes has already shown he is team’s most valuable role player and has a shot at long-term starter.

The style of defense JJ Redick has the Lakers playing right now is perfect for Jaxson Hayes. It will also continue to be important defensively for the Lakers to keep Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic from being switch hunted.
Hayes was not a great fit for drop coverage but for a center who has the quickness of foot and athleticism to defend in space, the icing and hedging that Redick’s new defense demands is a perfect fit for Jaxson Hayes.

Jaxson Hayes’ elite gravity and fit as a vertical lob threat for Luka along with his proven ability to defend in space and improving ability to protect the rim give him a good head start to be the Lakers’ next great center.

Despite missing two superstars, four of five starters, and their two best players off the bench, the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers showed their championship heart and almost pulled off the NBA upset of the year.

As 14 point underdogs, the hobbled Lakers went into the game with nothing to lose but eager to show the Nuggets this is a different team from the ones they dominated in the past. These Lakers are nobody’s daddy. Missing James, Doncic, Hachimura, Hayes, Finney-Smith, and Vincent, the Lakers started Reaves, Knecht, Goodwin, Vanderbilt, and Len with bench contributions from Milton, Morris, Koloko, James Jr, and Morris.

While the injury-riddled Lakers finished the brutal 4-game road trip 0–4, the team remains steadfast and confident that all they need to win the championship this year is to be 100% healthy heading into the playoffs.
Strategically, the Lakers are gambling on playoff health over playoff seeding. Despite their 4-game losing streak and a pair of looming back-to-backs without LeBron James, that bet is still looking like a savvy move.

Last night’s win showed just how deep and talented this Lakers team really is. Despite missing their two megastars, heady Austin Reaves and rookie Dalton Knecht were superb filling Luka Doncic’s and LeBron James’ shoes.
While Austin, Dalton, and the Lakers in Denver were valiantly trying to steal a win, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Jaxson Hayes were all rehabbing back in Los Angeles to become day-to-day going forward.

While the Lakers are still probably a week away from getting LeBron James back, they’ll hopefully get Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, and Rui Hachimura back sometime during the coming week.

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What We Learned From Heartbreaking Loss to Nuggets

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Last night, JJ Redick, Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, and Christian Koloko showed the Denver Nuggets and the rest of the NBA why the winning road to this year’s championship will have to go through the Los Angeles Lakers.

Anybody who thought the Lakers were just punting last night’s game has not seen how hard this team plays for rookie head coach JJ Redick. JJ calls ‘playing hard’ the one ‘legit’ cheat code in the NBA and his team lives it.
The Lakers’ once controversial decision to hire untested rookie head coach JJ Redick has almost unanimously been declared a major success with him included as one of the top three candidates for NBA Coach of the Year.

Last night was a perfect example of how Redick has transformed the Lakers into a team that believes in their coach, their game plan, and their ability to matchup against any team in the NBA in a seven-game series.
Make no mistake, the Lakers have found their next Pat Riley and Phil Jackson in young JJ Redick, who’s the #1 reason beyond LeBron and Luka why the road to the 2025 NBA Championship will go through the Lakers.

Last night, we also saw the Lakers’ star power beyond LeBron and Luka as Reaves and Knecht shone brightly without James and Doncic just like the Celtics’ White and Pritchard did last week without Tatum and Brown.
Reaves had been struggling after returning from injury but finally seems to have his stroke from deep and elite quickness back. The Lakers also have to be thrilled right now that Dalton Knecht is still a Laker why he’s played.

Finally, it was great to see Christian Koloko get an opportunity. Koloko is a much better fit to start if Hayes is out and to back Jax up when he goes to the bench to rest. Luka Doncic especially will find him a lethal lob threat.

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What To Expect From Next 5 & Last 12 Games

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While the Lakers expect James to miss another week, several Lakers players, including Vincent, Finney-Smith, Hachimura, and Hayes will hopefully start returning during the week to bolster the Lakers.

The Lakers are now #5 seed in the West with a 40–25 record. The #2 Nuggets have 24 losses while the #3 Rockets and #4 Grizzlies are tied with LA with 25 losses. The #6 Warriors are red hot but also have 28 losses.
Ideally, the Lakers would like to go 3–2 or 4–1 over the 5-game homestand. To do that, they need to win 1 or 2 of 3 tough games against the Suns, Nuggets, and Bucks and both of the games against the Spurs and Bulls.

Going 3–2 or 4–1 to for the 5-game homestand would put the Lakers in outstanding position with a 43–27 or 44–26 record and everybody on the team healthy and ready to go when LeBron James returns next week.
That would leave the Lakers 12 games remaining in the regular season, including 2 games vs. the Thunder, 2 vs. the Rockets, and 1 each vs. the Grizzlies and Warriors. Fully healthy Lakers should finish 9 of last 12.

That would give the Lakers a potential 2024–25 regular season record of 53–29 for a winning percentage of 64.6%, which would likely put Los Angeles as the #3 seed behind the #2 seed Denver and #1 seed Oklahoma City.
While the Lakers value playoff health over seeding, finishing #3 in the West would put LA in the same bracket as OKC , which would mean they would face them in second round and Denver in the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers should get Doncic, Vincent, Finney-Smith, Hayes, and/or Hachimura back during the next five games and James back the week after, leaving them 100% healthy for remaining 12 games in the regular season.

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What To Expect From Los Angeles Lakers In Playoffs

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If the Lakers can pull off their big gamble of playoff health over playoff seeding, they could end up with a 53–29 record and #3 seed in the West, which would mean likely facing the #2 seed Nuggets in second round.

The Lakers to a man believe they can beat any other team in the NBA if they are 100% healthy heading into the playoffs. When healthy, the Lakers not only have the best superstar duo in the league but also its #1 defense.
JJ Redick has combined a juggernaut offense run by the two smartest, most talented superstar playmakers and scorers in the entire league along with a legitimate #1 rated elite trapping, rotating, and swarming team defense.

While their health may remain a critical factor, everything is looking up for the Lakers right now. Their smart strategy of resting LeBron James rather than pushing to hold onto their higher playoff seed appears to be working.
While the Lakers have lost four games, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Dalton Knecht have all elevated their games to another level to make up for missing LeBron James and the team continues to play hard and compete.

The Lakers were not initially expected to compete for a championship this season, especially after rescinding the Mark Williams trade, but the superb coaching by Redick and his staff and the mega trade for Luka changed that.
While the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers have the best regular season records, a strong collection of NBA analysts and pundits think the more likely NBA Finals matchup could be the Lakers vs. Celtics.

Nothing would be sweeter for NBA fans than to see a Lakers and Celtics NBA Finals. The Lakers win #18, JJ wins #1, Luka wins #1, and LeBron wins #5. LA can smell another championship. This team’s destiny is a dynasty.