The conversation: Are LeBron James’ Lakers a serious threat in the West or a sideshow?

The Los Angeles Lakers were a play-in team again in 2023-24, and their playoff run lasted five games. Given that it was LeBron James‘ 21st season, you might think that the team would have responded by making a big, win-now trade, or perhaps a series of smaller, but significant ones. This is not what has happened.

Heading into Year 22, James and his co-star, Anthony Davis, have returned to a roster that looks largely the same as it did last season. The Lakers believe they got a steal in Dalton Knecht, the No. 17 pick in the draft, and they have made history by selecting James’ son, Bronny, with the No. 55 pick. In terms of this season’s on-court product, though, changing coaches might have been the biggest move they made. A year after leading Los Angeles to the conference finals, the team fired Darvin Ham. Then it replaced him with JJ Redick, who, in this role, will no longer co-host podcasts with James.

Redick has been pretty open about how he wants the Lakers to play, particularly on offense. He wants more ball movement, a more modern shot profile (I.e. more 3s) and more crashing the glass from the corners. He wants to use Davis as a handoff hub more often, and he wants to use James as a screener more often. It all sounds pretty sensible, but, if the personnel doesn’t change, there’s only so much room for improvement here.

The state of play

Last year: The Lakers became the first team to hoist the NBA Cup, then immediately lost 10 of 13 games, prompting James to declare, “We just suck right now.” They were 17-19 at that point, but they didn’t continue to suck all season — they turned things around in February and finished 47-35 (No. 15 on offense, No. 17 on defense), winning a play-in game in New Orleans and going out with a gentleman’s sweep in the first round. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant season, between all of the drama about Ham’s lineup decisions and rumors about his job security and potential trades.

The offseason: The Lakers flirted with UConn coach Dan Hurley, but on draft night, Redick was drawing up ATOs for Knecht. James reportedly offered to sacrifice money in free agency if it would help the Lakers make a meaningful addition to the roster, but that didn’t end up meaning much — he ended up signing a two-year, $101.4 million near-max deal with a player option on the second season, and the front office didn’t acquire any of its targets. The bigger news was that James became teammates with his son and then won a gold medal alongside Davis in Paris. Quietly, the Lakers re-signed Max Christie to a four-year, $32 million contract and let Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie walk in free agency.

Best case for 2024-25: James and Davis both play 70-plus games again, and this time the Lakers make the most of it, with Redick winning Coach of the Year honors for presiding over their first top-10 offense of the LeBron era; thanks to a midseason trade, they enter the playoffs with a genuine Big 3 and more than a puncher’s chance of winning a title. 

Worst case 2024-25: Davis starts taking more 3s, but rarely makes them, a microcosm of the Lakers’ larger issue: none of the lineups that can reliably get stops can space the floor whatsoever; since they don’t have the same injury luck as they did in 2023-24, they find themselves outside of the play-in late in the regular season, ultimately being eliminated from contention in Game 81 by the Rockets, a team whose bright future provides a stark contrast to Los Angeles’ increasingly bleak one.

The conversation

Lakers believer: I’m so ready for the Redick era. Normally, I’d roll my eyes at a coach with zero professional experience drawing Pat Riley comparisons, but not this time. This man has gravitas. He will immediately command respect from his players, all of whom have been watching him for years, first as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history and then as one of the best broadcasters in the business. More than all of that, he’s so smart about where the game is and where it’s going. I love that the Lakers hired the guy who, during their previous coaching search, said on national TV that it wouldn’t be a good job until they started to build a modern team. The Lakers finished dead last in 3-point attempts on a per-possession basis last season, and there’s absolutely no way that happens with Redick running the show. The only thing I don’t like about this is that he’s out of the podcasting game. “Mind The Game” taught me so much!

Lakers skeptic: It’s telling that you’re starting with the coach. You’re supposed to be Mr. Positive, so you can’t start with the plain fact that the front office failed to address the flaws on the roster. Look, ridiculous Riley comparisons aside, I have no idea how good of a coach Redick will be. Neither do you! It’s entirely possible that he is the perfect guy to bridge the LeBron era and whatever comes next, and it’s also entirely possible that he doesn’t even last as long as Darvin Ham did. If you want your favorite former podcaster to be judged generously, though, I suggest lowering the bar as much as possible. AD played in 76 games last year and made the All-NBA Second Team. LeBron played in 71 and made the Third Team. Despite those enormous blessings, the Lakers were a below-average team. They barely even had a positive point differential. Redick can’t be expected to make chicken salad out of this.

Lakers believer: Why are you talking about the Lakers as if they have no talent on the roster? Have you forgotten that they made the conference finals two years ago? Have you forgotten that they went 18-6 when they started LeBron and AD next to Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura last season? Redick wouldn’t have taken over a team composed of two stars and a bunch of scrubs! He took over a pretty good team that he can make better by finding little edges. If they solve the math problem (i.e. actually make an effort to create 3s) and win the possession game more often, they’ll take a step forward.

Lakers skeptic: I didn’t say the Lakers had no talent. I said they were a below-average team, and I stand by it. If you strongly disagree with this assessment, then you’re overlooking a few glaring flaws. Beyond the obvious spacing issue, their point-of-attack defense is a problem, they only have one rim protector and there’s a total of absence of 3-and-D guys. If any team needed a real shakeup in the summer, it was this one. I thought the Lakers would Russell, and they didn’t. I thought they would trade at least two of the Hachimura-Gabe Vincent-Jarred Vanderbilt trio, and they didn’t. I would have even understood if they had made Austin Reaves available if the return justified it. But I do not understand doing nothing. (That 18-6 record, by the way, seems a lot more impressive if you don’t know that they got a lot of those wins against truly awful teams. Congrats on beating the Wizards in overtime!)

Lakers believer: In a normal offseason, I would be moderately surprised that the Lakers didn’t make more changes, but this was far from a normal offseason. The new CBA has made trades much more complicated, and the Lakers were far from the only team that felt the consequences. They did everything they could to get Klay Thompson, but it didn’t work out. Are you mad that they didn’t overpay for Zach LaVine or something? You should never make a move just to make a move. Let’s just see what Redick can do with this roster; the front office will surely revisit the trade market later.

Lakers skeptic: I mean, I’m not sure I’d be excited about paying LaVine $49 million in 2026-27, but in this specific case, trading for him would not have been the worst idea in the world. It is a crime against basketball that the Lakers have failed over and over again to put together a good offense since LeBron arrived. (For reference, this is where their offense has ranked each year, starting with 2018-19: 24th, 11th, 24th, 22nd, 19th, 15th.) Your wait-and-see suggestion sounds pretty sensible, but I’m guessing that the 2025 trade deadline will be the same as the ones that have come before it, with the Lakers asking themselves, “Should we give up these valuable first-round draft picks in a trade that will make us better, but not make us good enough to win the title?” This is a genuinely difficult position to be in, especially because LeBron will be 40 by this deadline. He should be playing in games that matter, not part of some weird sideshow.

Lakers believer: I don’t like the way you’ve framed this. To me, simply having LeBron and AD means you’re not that far away — the 2020 team that won the title showed what they can do with a few high-end role players. And on that note, it’s possible that the solutions to the Lakers’ problems are already in-house. Sure, the roster is similar to last year’s, but Vincent only played 11 games in 2023-24 and Vanderbilt only played 29. Cam Reddish and Christian Wood missed a ton of time, too, and if Max Christie and/or Jalen Hood-Schifino make the leap to “reliable rotation player” and Dalton Knecht is as ready as he looks — you saw him torch the Suns in the preseason, right?– the second unit could look extremely different. This team has a chance to be way deeper than you think.

Lakers skeptic: Interesting that you left out the other young guy. Just curious: thoughts on Bronny?

Lakers believer: I was waiting for you to bring him up! Listen, I don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but I believe he could turn out to be one of the best No. 55 picks of all time … eventually. Redick thinks Bronny can be an elite defender at the point of attack. I like his shooting form and love his basketball IQ. He’s a medium- to long-term development project, though, so there’s nothing wrong with him spending most of this particular season in the G League. I hope people remember that he’s supposed to be a sophomore in college before trying to tear him down.

Lakers skeptic: Supposed to be in college, huh? It’s almost like, in a normal situation, a player of his caliber wouldn’t have been drafted at all! Anyway, I’m glad we addressed Bronny. I hope you’re watching when he makes his debut next to his dad. It’ll be a special moment, and there’s a good chance it’ll be the most relevant that the Lakers are all season.