Lakers Roster Already Raising Major Red Flag Ahead of Season

Will this revamped 2025-26 iteration of the Los Angeles Lakers, smarting from a five-game first-round smackdown by the Minnesota Timberwolves during the playoffs this past spring, be able to make a deep playoff run?

That remains to be seen. Los Angeles team president and general manager Rob Pelinka reacted to the club's brisk postseason exodus with a trio of key signings.

Three Key New Lakers

To upgrade the center position, he signed former No.1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton, an athletic double-double machine who looked like a legitimate keeper while making the 2021 Finals with the Phoenix Suns. Health and chemistry concerns have cratered his value, and he was bought out of the last season of his contract by the Portland Trail Blazers this summer. L.A. picked him up on a two-year, $16.2 million deal.

After 3-and-D combo forward Dorian Finney-Smith ditched L.A. for a four-year, $52.7 million deal with the Houstonn Rockets, Pelinka replaced him with a younger, more unproven rising pro, former Memphis Grizzlies combo forward Jake LaRavia.

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To further address the Finney-Smith absence, and to shore up the club's perimeter defense in general, Pelinka signed former Defensive Player of the Year guard Marcus Smart to a two-year deal.

But will any of these new additions help paper over the Lakers' biggest issue, at least according to NBA.com's John Schumann?

That would be the on-court fit of L.A. All-Stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, Schumann posits. Both are elite scorers and distributors, while being below-average defenders at their respective positions.

"The Lakers were outscored in 742 total minutes (regular season and playoffs combined) with Luka Doncic and James on the floor together, but outscored their opponents by 17.2 points per 100 possessions (scoring 124.6 per 100) in 450 total minutes with Dončić on the floor without James," Schumann writes. "James has shot 44 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s over the last two seasons, so it’s not like he’s a bad offensive fit alongside the guy who’s averaged a league-high 3.7 assists on 3-pointers over the last five years."

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Beyond the exciting offensive fit, Los Angeles' overall defense figures to be the biggest issue facing Doncic and James.

"There could be bigger questions on defense, where the Lakers ranked 17th after acquiring Doncic and 12th in the first round (allowing the Wolves to score more efficiently than they did in the regular season)," Schumann adds. "Ayton offers more rim protection than what they had at the end of last season and actually had the best rim-protection mark of his career last season (53.5 percent shooting against him at the basket), though that was in only 40 games."

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