Armed with All-NBA superstars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, plus rising potential future All-Star guard Austin Reaves, the Los Angeles Lakers seemed poised to make a potential playoff run this spring.
Instead, the 50-win Lakers were upset in the first round by the No. 6-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves
Three-time All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards, three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle, and All-Defensive Team swingman Jaden McDaniels (a former Lakers draft pick) proved particularly unstoppable.
In a decisive Game 5, four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert got in on the fun, notching a dominant 27-point, 24-rebound double-double.
But was the Lakers’ bad postseason luck actually a harbinger of better things to come?
That’s what “Lakers Daily” host Deondre Hawkins opined on ESPN LA 710 AM.
Let me tell you something: the Lakers definitely overachieved this year,” Hawkins opined. “Before this NBA season started, when JJ Redick got hired, the first thing that everyone was saying for this Lakers team was, ‘Get out of the play-in tournament. We are begging JJ Redick to bring in a system, bring in something that is more fluid, have more structure, have more schemes for this team to get out of the play-in tournament.’
Beyond rookie guards Dalton Knecht and Bronny James (plus the free agency departures of Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie), the Lakers had the exact same standard roster at the start of the 2024-25 season that they had trotted out by the end of 2023-24 under former head coach Darvin Ham, now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Redick installed a more defensively oriented system, with Anthony Davis serving as the head of the snake and 3-and-D swingman Max Christie quickly installed as the club’s permanent starting two-guard.
The roster was legit the same [prior to the Luka Doncic trade], and JJ Redick got the most out of this roster,” Hawkins said. “The Lakers had the ability to get out of the play-in tournament with that team — with Anthony Davis and LeBron.
The Doncic trade changed everything. Davis, Christie and a first round pick in 2029 were shipped to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Doncic, an injured Maxi Kleber, and a far past-his-prime Markieff Morris. Both clubs also ditched 2025 second rounders to the Utah Jazz in the deal, with L.A. offloading guard Jalen Hood-Schifino to accommodate the two-for-three trade.
While Doncic rose the Lakers’ long-term ceiling, Hawkins noted that the club’s short-term upside this year was still considered fairly finite.
“Everyone [in the] media, for this season when the Lakers acquired him, they said, ‘The Mavericks won the trade for now, the Lakers won the trade for the future. Do not expect the Lakers to go out there and do something crazy this season and go on a great run and compete for a championship this year,'” Hawkins said.
Hawkins called out the Lakers for their struggles in that first round series with Minnesota, but noted that a full offseason together, plus their time logged on the hardwood since the trade, would help improve the chemistry of Doncic, James, and Reaves.
“There were a lot of mistakes that were made in that first round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but guess what? All of that can get corrected, now these guys can go into the offseason with a full training camp, a full offseason. JJ Redick said, ‘I want to get these guys into championship-level shape.’ Things are going to be different for this Lakers team.”
