Something has to change with the Lakers. That much was clear to Lakers coach JJ Redick and anyone else who saw the Lakers get blown out for a third straight game.
LOS ANGELES — Something has to change with the Lakers.
That was the feeling most Lakers fans had as they exited Crypto.com Arena early on Christmas, hoping to beat traffic after a third straight blowout loss. It was a sentiment echoed loudly by Lakers coach JJ Redick after the final buzzer and one likely to be shared by general manager Rob Pelinka soon enough.
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “That’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be professional. We don’t care enough to be professional.”
He didn’t stop there.
“It’s a matter of making the choice, and far too often we don’t have guys who want to make that choice,” Redick added while previewing the team’s next practice. “And it’s pretty consistent who those guys are. Saturday’s practice, I told the guys, is going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
For a franchise that entered the season believing it had solved its championship formula, Christmas offered a brutal reality check.
The NBA trade deadline is February 5, 2026 — 41 days from the moment the Lakers exited the court Thursday following a 119–96 loss to the Houston Rockets. It marked their longest losing streak of the season, a stunning reversal for a team that hadn’t even lost consecutive games before last Saturday.
That night, the Clippers handed them a 103–88 loss. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns obliterated them 132–88. On Thursday, the Rockets delivered the third punch of a 72-hour stretch that has reframed the Lakers’ season and exposed their ceiling.
This is not a championship team as currently constructed.
Yes, they started 15–4 and looked like a contender through 19 games, storming to a 15-4 record. But as Stan Van Gundy told me at the NBA Cup, numbers eventually win every argument.
“I don’t think they’re a true contender, in my opinion,” Van Gundy said after watching them lose 132–119 to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. “Their numbers said they were mediocre. Their record said they were really good. I just don’t think in today’s game they have enough.”
And he had more.
“They don’t have the depth, they don’t have the speed and quickness to keep up right now,” Van Gundy continued. “Defensively, they even get weaker when their three best players play together.”
He was referring to the Lakers’ high-usage trio — Luka Dončić, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves — a combination that has repeatedly failed to defend young, fast, perimeter-driven teams. Against Houston, those stars once again shared the floor alongside starters Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura. The result was predictable.
The Lakers’ starting lineup was a -14 in just over eight minutes in the first half with a defensive rating of 144.4. Entering the game, that unit posted a 113 offensive rating, 122 defensive rating, and a -9 net rating this season.
“When they had the mix of two of those guys, they were better,” Van Gundy said, noting the defensive imbalance when all three play together. “JJ will obviously rotate those guys, but they’re going to come down the stretch in games and those three guys are all going to be out there. Ayton will be out there. And now you can’t get perimeter defenders out there with them. It’s a struggle.”
Rich Paul said it first. Van Gundy validated it. And the last 72 hours have cemented it.
The Lakers are 19–9 — fifth in the West, just ahead of the Rockets and the Suns, two teams that dismantled them. National hype can cloak flaws for only so long. The Lakers’ fatal flaw is now their defining one:
They cannot defend young, fast teams, and no team wins in the postseason giving up 120 points a night.
The Lakers don’t need another superstar. They have that box checked with Dončić. They still get All-NBA moments from LeBron. They’ll likely send Reaves to his first All-Star Game. But stars without an identity — without depth, speed, or defensive toughness — are just names on a marquee, not threats in a playoff bracket.
“I can’t picture them on anybody in OKC’s level,” Van Gundy said. “Denver, San Antonio, Houston are probably the next three teams, and I don’t see the Lakers at that level.”
He’s right.
The good news? There’s still time for Pelinka to fix what ails them. The bad news? Time is the only thing they have. And if urgency, pride, and professionalism don’t arrive soon, it won’t matter who sits in uncomfortable practices or who speaks into a microphone next.
The Lakers’ biggest issue isn’t schematic, roster-based, or philosophical.
It’s effort. It’s identity. It’s caring enough.
And right now, they simply don’t.
Category: General Sports
