Lakers Receive Brutal Callout From Former NBA Champion

A former Los Angeles Lakers champion has already drawn a hard line through the franchise’s new era.

Byron Scott, who won three titles with the Showtime Lakers in the 1980s and later coached the team from 2014 to 2016, said the club built around Luka Doncic is not a true title threat. On his “Byron Scott’s Fast Break” podcast, Scott was asked whether the remade roster belongs with the contenders or the pretenders.

“I’m not going to say borderline. They’re pretenders,” Scott said.

“I think they’ll make the playoffs, but again, to Olden Polynice’s point, defense wins championships still in this league. I know we glorify the threes and all the offense and things of the nature, but at the end of the day, you got to get stops, right?”

That verdict lands after one of the most jarring offseasons in recent Lakers history. LeBron James, after eight seasons, one championship and a mountain of franchise records, told the team in late June he would play his 24th NBA season somewhere else. Los Angeles then handed the franchise to Doncic and paid Austin Reaves a four-year, $185 million deal.

The Lakers finished 53-29 last season, won the Pacific Division and beat Houston in six games in the first round. Oklahoma City then swept them in the Western Conference semifinals. They ranked ninth in offensive rating and 19th in defensive rating, according to Basketball-Reference.

Scott’s complaint is not that the Lakers cannot score. It is that the two players now carrying the offense have never been plus defenders, and the supporting cast around new center Walker Kessler is thin on the perimeter.

General manager Rob Pelinka spent heavily to fix the middle. Los Angeles acquired Kessler from Utah in a sign-and-trade, sending unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 plus first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030. Kessler signed a four-year, $130 million contract.

Scott did not sound convinced that one rim protector solves the problem.

“And Kessler at the center position, he better average about eight blocks a game. Because they going to be getting a lot of blowbys, and the guys going to get to that basket.”

No NBA player has averaged eight blocks in a season. Mark Eaton’s 5.56 per game in 1984-85 remains the record. Kessler has been excellent by modern standards, averaging 2.4 blocks for his career and at least 2.3 in each of his three full seasons with the Jazz. He played only five games last year before shoulder surgery and still posted 1.8 blocks, 14.4 points and 10.8 rebounds.

The joke is the point. Scott believes Doncic and Reaves will get beaten off the dribble so often that Kessler will have to erase almost every mistake at the rim.

Podcast co-host Olden Polynice, a former NBA center, was only slightly kinder.

“Defense, period,” Polynice said. “Walker Kessler, great defender, but it’s in the paint… He’s a rim protector, but teams nowadays are outside in. So, the rest of the guys, it’s going to be a struggle. So, I’ll say they’re kind of borderline, but more pretender than contender.”

Scott has made the same argument in other recent appearances. He said the Lakers “gonna struggle defensively” and singled out Doncic’s effort after he gets beat: too often, Scott said, the superstar is still standing at the top of the key when the play ends.

Los Angeles tried to add help. Matisse Thybulle and Jarred Vanderbilt are among the better individual defenders on the roster, but Thybulle has missed large chunks of the past two seasons and Vanderbilt’s offensive limits keep his minutes in check. Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Kevon Looney arrived as well. Gone, besides James, are Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes.

The talent drop is the other half of Scott’s case. Last year’s Lakers overachieved relative to their net rating, which ranked 14th. ESPN’s summer forecast named Los Angeles the team most likely to disappoint in 2026-27 and projected a 45-win season, eight fewer than a year ago. USA TODAY Sports projected 48-34, good for sixth in a Western Conference still led by Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

That gap matters because the Lakers spent future draft capital to win now with Doncic, who turns 28 during the season. A slide out of the top six would raise questions about Pelinka’s job and about whether Doncic will want to stay when his next contract decision arrives.

Scott is not saying the Lakers will miss the playoffs. He is saying playoff basketball still rewards the teams that can get stops, and he does not see enough of those stops on this roster.

For a franchise that measures itself against banners, that is a blunt message from a man who already has three of them.