The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the most popular sports franchises in the world for many decades. From global stars like Kylian Mbappé being major fans, to stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shaquille O’neal, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, and many others playing for this historic franchise. It’s not just a franchise, but a global brand. The Los Angeles Lakers have the biggest fanbase of all the franchises in the NBA and are known for their stars.
With LeBron’s time in the league and Los Angeles coming to an end, the franchise needed someone they could hand the keys to. That is when Rob Pelinka pulled one of the greatest fleeces in recent sports history. It would go down as the biggest blockbuster trades in Franchise history:
Los Angeles Lakers Receive:
G Luka Dončić
F Maxi Kleber
F Markieff Morris
Dallas Mavericks Receive:
C/F Anthony Davis
G Max Christie
F Markieff Morris
Utah Jazz Receive:
Jalen Hood-Schifino
2025 Los Angeles Clippers 2nd Round Pick
2025 Dallas Mavericks 2nd Round Pick
The addition of Luka would be benign to the Lakers. It would help them climb from 10th in the Western Conference to 3rd. The Lakers look like one of the best teams in the league and were predicted to be in the top 5 in the league for chances to win the NBA championship. Only issue is the chemistry between Luka and the rest of the Lakers is new and is continued to be raw. The Lakers trio is by far the best in the league, contesting against the Los Angeles Clippers trio of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Norman Powell. Here are their stats:
LEBRON JAMES
70 games played
40 years old
22nd Regular Season
24.4 points per game
7.8 rebounds per game
8.2 assists per game
51.3% FG percentage
37.6% 3-point percentage
5th in NBA MVP Race
LUKA DONCIC
28 games played (coming off injury)
Traded from Dallas Mavericks
New future of Los Angeles Lakers (lebron handing over “keys to Lakers”
Emotionally struggling in beginning, until he found his footing
28.2 points per game
8.1 rebounds per game
7.5 assists per game
43.8% FG percentage
37.9% 3-point percentage
AUSTIN REAVES
73 games played
20.2 points per game
4.5 rebounds per game
5.8 assists per game
46.0% FG percentage
37.7% 3-point percentage
The emergence of Austin Reaves is by far the biggest and most talked about aspect of the Lakers in the league. Known to be either the first or second-best 3rd option in the league (maybe only Norman Powell). LeBron James commented when asked “Who can guard the Lakers?” saying “The 2 best defenders will be on me [LeBron James] and Luka, most teams don’t have a third top defender, and they gonna have to cover Austin Reaves who is averaging 20 points a game.”
The emergence of Austin Reaves isn’t the only thing that’s powering the Lakers on top of the league. New head coach and basketball mastermind J.J. Reddick is mainly behind the Lakers’ success. The previous 2 head coaches, Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel struggled to draw up proper plays for the Lakers, making them mostly play man-to-man defense and off of instinct. With Reddick, the Lakers have designed plays and are much more coordinated. J.J. Reddick made a strong case for Coach of the Year, however, was not nominated as a finalist due to his new coming into the league.
The Lakers play the rising star (next up after Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James) Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in round 1 of the playoffs. Lakers are already down 3-1 in the series, and now have to win the next 3 games in a row to continue on the playoffs. This early playoff exit against the 6-seed would go down as one of the biggest upsets in the playoffs of all time and would solidify Anthony Edwards as the next biggest star in the league. Saugus High School Junior Jose Rafael Gomez Gutierrez has this to say about the NBA playoffs: “The Lakers are definitely a top contender to win the championship, however, they ran into playoff Anthony Edwards and will definitely result in the Timberwolves winning in 5. Obviously you can’t count on the real champs, the Boston Celtics, the 2024 champs and now soon to be the 2025 champs, HAVE A GOODNIGHT.” Let’s see how the rest of the playoffs unfold.
