How The Lakers Ended Up In The Middle Of An Identity Crisis
· Yahoo Sports
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 12: Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, right, congratulates Lakers guard Luka Doncic after he sank a three-point shot, totaling 51 points for the game against the Bulls in the second half at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesLet’s not get carried away with the 7-1 run. The Lakers biggest problem is that they are tussling with an identity crisis and they don’t even know it.
What do the JJ Redick Lakers stand for? After 66 games into this NBA season it is still not clear. And that's a significant concern.
The pre-season narrative from Redick was centred around building championship habits – and yes that included going on record to say that they were aiming to win the championship. On their quest toward winning their 18th NBA title this year, you could see parts of how they wanted to play by their early success with a 15-4 opening charge. During the first 19 games, the Lakers boasted a high energy offense led by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. They capitalized on a soft schedule. And they relied heavily on shot-making, spacing and outscoring rather than being anchored by a gritty defense.
Since then, the Lakers have lived between the highs and lows: they’ve beaten teams they shouldn’t have; lost to teams they should have beaten; and somehow found themselves third in the West with a 41-25 record on the back of a leaky defensive profile. They have conceded more than 120 points in 23 games which means they have been forced to win games through a shootout. In some games against contenders, they have proved they can outlast and produce high quality stops. This is why the confusion exists because there are two different versions of the Lakers living in the NBA.
The Mirage of the 7-1 Run
On any given night you get the good, like the 13 point win over the Knicks where they were able to play with physicality and at a high-intensity level. They got under Jalen Brunson’s skin for three quarters. They kept Mikal Bridges scoreless in 27 minutes. The Lakers defence forced 19 turnovers. And the Knicks struggled shooting at the perimeter (23.5 percent) because they were consistently harassed. It was the kind of two-way game that made you believe; the kind of game that sells fans the narrative that this team is a contender.
Then there are the nights where the Lakers can’t execute defensively in high pressure situations. Against the Nuggets, a game they lost down the stretch by seven points, they doubled-teamed Jokic which left Julian Strawther open who hit a late three-point dagger. Jamal Murray was also left to hit his step-back jumpers at will. The Lakers did force 18 turnovers but couldn’t capitalize on it as the game became pressurized.
So why is it they can’t sustain their good, high energy, high performance games where they can execute under pressure?
You need to look at the roster that Redick has to work with. You’ve got a 41-year-old legend of the game in LeBron who’s missed 21 games and body is not what it used to be. Doncic, the new era superstar, wants the ball in his hand and can be lazy on defense. Reaves adds shooting proficiency but also lags in defense with a 117.1 rating. Ayton has been a ghost. In 52 games, the 27-year-old has had a positive impact in only 18 of them. He is ranked 29th for defensive impact among starting bigs, often looking lethargic in a scheme that requires energy and effort.
Even Marcus Smart’s trademark grit hasn’t been able to influence this roster with a career worst defensive rating of 117.1. And the rest of the roster is made up of spare parts, players who are still figuring out their own game or struggle to impact the floor at either end. If creating championship habits was the identity of this Lakers team this year we are still yet to see it.
It’s hard to get excited about last night’s 12-point win against the Chicago Bulls – who are 12th in the East (27-39). It was hard work. The Lakers gave up 130 points and Doncic had to rescue his team by dropping 51 pointst to secure the win. In their last seven wins, four of those wins came at the expense of the NBA’s tanking teams: the Pelicans (25th), Pacers (30th) Kings (29th) and Bulls (22nd). Even a recent win over the Timberwolves required Anthony Edwards to have a complete shooting meltdown (3-of-25 from the field); they also beat the Warriors missing their main weapon in Steph Curry.
To the Lakers though, a win is a win. Every win in a super tight race in the West is worth its weight in gold. Even if they aren’t playing with championship habits yet. This also complicates defining who they are. Are they finally hitting their ceiling or are they a team that will soon bottom out like they have shown throughout this year?
The Tactical Problem of the “Big Three”
Part of the problem for Redick is that even when his best scoring trio – Doncic, Reaves and Lebron – are healthy and playing together, their net rating is -9.6 which makes them a bottom three team. And that’s if they’re all healthy. Further to that, injuries have caused the Lakers’ best 10 players on the roster to miss 123 games collectively. When trying to build a system and reinforce defensive structures it gets harder to make it stick if the room keeps changing every night.
Every team that wins an NBA championship is known for one defining trait that sets them apart from the rest of the competition. Last year’s Thunder operated on being a two-way monster; efficient scoring plus a disruptive defense. They had speed and pressure. A true modern game style. The Warriors opted for a team-first identity combined with elite scoring and positionless defensive systems. And it wasn’t that long ago when the Lakers won their 17th title. That team was known for being a defensive juggernaut. They were big and physical with bigs like Anthony Davis, Javale McGee, Dwight Howard. Even their smalls in Alex Caruso, Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope brought elite pressure.
You can pinpoint what these teams stood for. These Lakers? Are they contenders? Are they re-building? Are they going to be good next year? No-one has the answers yet. And nobody seems to know where they are headed.
It isn’t that the Lakers are a bad team. Against the Nuggets in the middle of January, the Lakers claimed a contender scalp with a 115 to 107 win. They held Denver to 36 second half points and wore them down through collective high-intensity stops. But it’s efforts like these that tend to evaporate. Only eight days earlier against the lowly Kings, they lost by 12 giving up 124 and allowed them to shoot at 65.4 percent from three-point range. They were sluggish on rotation and not hard enough in the paint.
With 16 games remaining – eight of which are against elite contenders in the Rockets, Nuggets, and Thunder – this becomes a litmus test for Redick’s vision. If the Lakers want to prove they can execute championship habits and bring defensive accountability and are more than just words tossed around in pre-season, they have to start now. It’s hard to stand for something when you’re busy trying to be everything. In the NBA, if you try to be everything, you eventually end up standing for nothing.