Los Angeles Lakers Predicted to Win 50 Games in 2025-26 NBA Season

The Los Angeles Lakers are predicted to win 50 games during the 2025-26 NBA season.

NBA writer Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report thinks the Lakers will go 50-32 next season. Los Angeles’ top players are Luka Dončić, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Jake LaRavia.

The Lakers went 50-32 last season. They were the third seed in the West but lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs in five games.

“The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t make a lot of changes to their 50-win team this offseason, but the individual upgrade from Jaxson Hayes to Deandre Ayton is significant (regardless of what you might think about Ayton as a player),” Bailey wrote. “And signing Luka Dončić to an extension long before the summer ended should instill a sense of stability throughout the organization. The Slovenian playmaker is clearly the face of the franchise going forward. And while that may ruffle the feathers of 40-year-old LeBron James, it’s the right move.

“As L.A. spends the next few years looking for talent that fits its younger generational talent, those two, Ayton and Austin Reaves should allow the team to compete at a high level now.”

Lakers second-year head coach JJ Redick is expected to start Dončić, Reaves, Hachimura, James and Ayton next season. Ayton, Smart and LaRavia are the newcomers in Los Angeles. Dončić recruited Ayton and Smart, while Reaves recruited LaRavia.

Dorian Finney-Smith left the Lakers for the Houston Rockets on the first day of free agency this offseason.

The Lakers currently have the sixth-best preseason odds to win the 2026 championship, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Rockets and Timberwolves.

Los Angeles hasn’t won a title since 2020. The purple and gold beat James’ old team, the Miami Heat, in the 2020 NBA Finals at the Walt Disney World bubble.