Edwin’s Journal: Are the Lakers cooked?

The post-All-Star break is an important stretch of the season. It’s when the contenders become clear, playoff teams start jockeying for positioning and the others lean into tanking.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick talked about LA needing to play its best basketball in this moment, but that hasn’t materialized.

Instead, LA has been wafting in the pools of mediocrity. They’ve gone 1-2 since the break and went 4-4 during their eight-game homestand.

With the roster effectively atfull health it’s clear this is what the Lakers are: a team good enough to beat up on bad opponents, but unable to defeat anyone of merit.

With a title out of reach, a playoff series victory feeling optimistic and over a quarter of the season left, it won’t be long before fans start checking out. After all, the front office signaled everything is about next year by saying no to trades now that’d improve this team.

What’s left of the 2025-26 season for LA might feel like episode fillers as we wait for the next year of this drama to unfold.

5 things I liked and didn’t like

1. Lakers don’t care about Celtics games

In 2004 when Lovie Smith spoke during his introductory press conference as the new Chicago Bears head coach, he said, “The No. 1 goal is to beat Green Bay.” Why did he put such emphasis on beating their rival? Because he was establishing the culture.

That word gets thrown around so much that I think people forget what it actually means.

It’s about solidifying what matters. It becomes a non-negotiable and it doesn’t matter how trivial it seems to outsiders, it’s how things get done.

In Los Angeles, the culture is well-established. We eat tacos and have graffiti on our walls, red hot dog carts outside of every stadium and palm trees on every block.

The Lakers’ culture used to be about beating the Celtics.

But it wasn’t enough to just defeat them. You hated that Boston green. The ‘80s Lakers had that culture. Kobe’s Lakers did too. But this iteration of the team does not.

The fans still care, the culture has been established for decades, and it’ll remain long after the players, coaches and media members, myself included, are long gone.

It’s why Pat Riley used the end of his statue unveiling speech to say, “The time has come to kick some a–. To kick some Boston a–.” And it’s why it made the pathetic performance the Lakers gave all the more disappointing.

With Mark Walter now the owner, the Lakers are undergoing a major cultural shift. I hope, at some point, someone inside gets it. And performances like this against the Celtics in what’s considered one of the greatest rivalries in sports become a thing of the past.

2. The offense stinks

What do the Lakers do well?

Before the season started, I would’ve guessed the defense would be bad, but the offense would be good.

I was half right, it’s all poor.

With LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and Austin Reaves all back, the Lakers still struggle to score. In their loss to Boston, they scored only 89 points, their second-lowest total of the year.

In their follow-up against the Magic, Reaves struggled in the opening half, scoring as much as you and I did, and Luka went 8-24 from the field in the defeat.

LA has Luka in his prime, the greatest scorer in NBA history in LeBron and Reaves putting up career numbers, but this trio had a plus-minus of -8 on the week while logging 61 minutes together.

This needs to be fixed.

3. Lights too bright for Luka?

The Lakers were down one against the Magic with the ball and 6.7 seconds left in the game. It was a high-leverage moment and Luka had the open shot. He hesitated for a moment, pump-faked, then dribbled aimlessly before passing to LeBron, resulting in a turnaround fadeaway that clanked off the rim.

It was odd to see a player who chucks up shots like his life depends on it suddenly become passive and hesitant.

“I know I was open but I just thought it was little bit far,” Luka said after the game. “I tried to take one dribble closer and probably shouldn’t have picked up the ball. I was just trying to attack.”

It was a bad moment and a poor look for your franchise player, but this will only make him stronger. And the next time this moment comes up, if he is who I think he is, the shot will go up.

4. Front office is shaping up

LA can’t make significant changes to its roster currently, but it can with its front office. The Lakers have recently hired former Virginia head coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft advisor. It’s a step in the right direction for LA to bolster its scouting department and begin this massive overhaul.

For now, Lakers fans should be excited about these new changes as the franchise moves on from the Buss era.

5. This too shall pass

Things aren’t great now, but long-term, it’s going to be okay in Laker land. Redick is likely going to reach 50 wins on back-to-back seasons, a feat the team hasn’t accomplished since 2011. The Lakers are not on a 50-win pace

Luka is set to be the franchise player for years to come, and with a ton of cap space, the Lakers can build something special this summer.

So, believe in the future and in the part of Lakers culture that has made it clear that winning it all is the standard. LA will be back at the top soon enough. If not, then Walter will hire people who can get them there, as he did with the Dodgers.

Stat of the Week

LeBron’s greatness can get overlooked, but it shouldn’t. This week, he passed another milestone, reaching 43,000 points.

Every night, LeBron raises the bar for the future to aim for, and even with the Lakers where they are, that shouldn’t be forgotten or go unappreciated.

Play of the Week

Luka being aggressive is common, but he needs to work on how he does that so it benefits the Lakers and not their opponent. This week’s Play of the Week is a perfect example.

With 1:12 left to play, the Lakers were up by one against the Magic. Luka pushed the ball up the floor and went downhill.

Wendell Carter Jr. was trailing, andLuka had the advantage for a moment. He either could’ve tried to beat Carert Jr. to the rim and score inside, or force Tristan da Silva to help, which would’ve gotten Rui Hachimura wide-open in the corner.

Instead, Luka gave up that advantage and took a stepback three and missed.

While Luka has the ability to make this shot, he has to resist the temptation to constantly take it. Orlando would much rather have Luka taking this shot over a bucket inside and if he makes it, they’d live with that result.

He didn’t make it and the Lakers lost by one point.

Player of the Week

He might not be Clint Capela, but Deandre Ayton is the Player of the Week for the Lakers. LA needs him to be a lion, and perhaps that’s too much to request consistently, but when he reaches that level, good things happen.

In a win against the Clippers, he shot 50% from the field, scoring in double figures. Against the Magic, he was aggressive early on, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

That kind of play is exactly what the Lakers need from their starting center.

Stories of the Week

Why the Lakers’ success depends on Deandre Ayton — and vice versa – ESPN

Ayton saying he’s not Capela will get the most noise, but this was a great piece by Dave McMenamin of ESPN, highlighting one of the most important players on the Lakers.

The task for the Lakers is getting Ayton to care as much for the grind and the role as he does for putting points on the board.

“When he’s at his best, and we’ve seen it, we’ve seen glimpses of it, he’s playing with force,” a team source told ESPN. “And that’s playing with great force on both ends of the floor when it comes to screening. Then rolling and putting pressure on the rim; [when the] shot goes up, crashing the glass; sprinting back in transition; loading to the basketball; calling out your communication; being in the right positioning; contesting shots; boxing out. Those things for a big are just really thankless when you’re a skilled big. But on this team, that’s what his role is.

“He has to be a dirt worker.”

NBA mock draft 5.0: Who goes first in a draft worth tanking for? – USA Today

With this draft being considered one of the strongest in years, I’ve been watching more college basketball this season than I have since I was a kid. It’s been fun learning more about the players and programs. It might be a bit early for a mock draft, but I’m locking in a little earlier this year. Here is a player USA Today sees as a potential one the Lakers can go with in the first round.

21. Los Angeles Lakers: Patrick Ngongba II

The Lakers could use a big man like Patrick Ngongba II, who is an above-average passer for his position. His assist rate is the highest among underclassmen listed at 6-foot-11 or taller, per Bart Torvik, and he is at the top of his game when passing to a driving perimeter player. Ngongba is a big-bodied prospect who can carve out space as one of the most prolific cutters in college basketball. He is on an encouraging development track, displaying year-over-year improvement from his freshman to sophomore campaign.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.