Los Angeles Lakers News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Oct 3, 2025; Palm Desert, California, USA: Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick gestures during the first half against the Phoenix Suns at Acrisure Arena. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

JJ Redick Reveals Why Suns Are Way Ahead of Lakers Right Now

Originally posted on Los Angeles Lakers on SI
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated Oct 5, 2025 6:30 PM ET

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has a hot take on why the Lakers fell by double digits to the lowly Phoenix Suns by 22 points, 103-81, during LA's preseason opener on Friday.

Four projected rotation pieces for the Lakers — All-NBA superstars Luka Doncic and LeBron James plus defense-first guards Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent — all sat.

More news: Key Lakers Free Agent Signing Already Dealing With Injury to Start Training Camp

Rookie forward Adou Thiero, the kind of player who'd really benefit from some preseason run to make an impression on Redick early, was also on the shelf.

Redick explains why Phoenix — a team that is only expected to get worse this year than its 36-46 season run with multi-time All-Stars Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal still on the roster — looked more cohesive and connected on Friday, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

@TheAthletic

Five observations from Suns-Lakers preseason openerhttps://t.co/jnwzoPwjIN Lakers struggle in preseason debut but JJ Redick says, ‘We’ll get there’: 5 observations
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) October 4, 2025

“This is not an excuse, this is quite literally reality: They’ve had 19 guys in the gym all of September,” Redick said. “They did their installs similar to how we did last year in September. They were able to get a lot of their installs in."

Longtime Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe, along with seven dimes, two boards and a swipe. He also notched a plus-22, tied with new post-Kevin Durant trade acquisition Dillon Brooks as the game-high.

Los Angeles Can Catch Phoenix in the Preparation Department

Redick does think, however, that Los Angeles will be able to catch up to where Phoenix is now — despite the Suns' head start.

"They’ve had seven practices," Redick said of Phoenix. "They’re ahead of us from that perspective. They have more stuff in — I felt that more on the defensive end. They clearly have a lot of their concepts, schemes, all that stuff really, really tight. We just haven’t had enough time. We will get there. I’m very confident.”

The Lakers' next preseason matchup tips off on Sunday night, a 5:30 p.m. PT road tilt against the Golden State Warriors.

More news: Lakers' Bronny James Says He's Surprised LeBron is Still Playing

James and Doncic will again miss the action, this time against a revamped Golden State squad that brought in free agents Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton (who began the 2024-25 season with the Warriors but was traded to the Brooklyn Nets after tearing his ACL early), and Seth Curry to the club's aging core of future Hall of Famers Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.

Golden State resolved its Jonathan Kuminga restricted free agency drama early this week with a solid two-year deal that seems incredibly tradable, although if the team can harness his athletic gifts this year he could be a real on-court benefit. Young guns Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Quinten Post also seemingly have room to grow.