Since the 2010-2011 season, when the Los Angeles Lakers won 57 games, the organization has cracked 50 wins just once, during the 2019-2020 season when they won 52.
Even taking into account shortened seasons due to COVID, the Lakers have come up short on the 61% winning percentage required to crack 50 wins in 11 of their past 12 seasons.
Essentially, the organization has a regular season challenge, and with the Western Conference growing stronger and stronger, it’s fair to enter the 2024-2025 season with some concerns.
While the Lakers can’t necessarily control the success of other franchises, they can control their own. But given that their roster is currently overloaded with one-way players, particularly in an era where 3&D play often correlates to wins, it stands to reason this team will be open for business when they enter February and the NBA’s annual trade deadline.
Mainstay stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis are obviously not going anywhere. Due to the fact that his father is who he is, Bronny James also seems like a safe bet to stay put.
But can we say the same about D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Christian Wood, and Jarred Vanderbilt?
With the older James pushing 40, and with Davis having played 70+ games just once during his Lakers tenure, the team doesn’t have time to mess around with players who might get targeted defensively, or in the case of Vanderbilt, being broadly ignored on offense.
Newly arrived head coach, JJ Redick, does have a lot to say on this matter. If he were to pivot into offense (of which the Lakers have quite a bit), that might be the best way to optimize the team internally, without having to go shopping mid-season.
With Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht on the roster, the Lakers can seemingly throw out endless rotation variations of players who can, to put it simply, put the ball in the basket.
Whether that strategy helps them towards their goal of winning a championship remains to be seen, but it would build them an identity that they’ve been lacking.
Of course, if the team aspire for something greater, a balance between offense and defense must be found, and there’s no getting around that without making trades, and quite a few of them.
As such, it’s curious that the Lakers haven’t spent this summer doing that, as to optimize their two-way abilities, especially after seeing quite a few teams around them get stronger.
Perhaps, then, it’s a sign of internal change that the team is banking on. Whichever direction they go, it’s crucial they improve their performance during the regular season as to stand stronger come April, and the start of the postseason. Settling for a Play-In spot comes with risk, even if the Lakers have routinely come out on top in those scenarios.
A Top 6 seed, and an immediate playoff berth, would be an almost necessary change of pace for a team that’s been all over the place in recent years. Finding consistency has to become a major priority, and that starts by making a concerted effort in becoming a stronger regular season team.
