Even though they were quickly dispatched in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, the Lakers entered last summer on a positive note, still riding the high of their mid-season Luka Doncic acquisition. While Doncic spent the offseason getting into peak condition and committing to a multiyear extension with his new team, the front office began working to try to find the types of complementary pieces that would best suit Los Angeles' new franchise player.
Armed with no cap room and a limited number of valuable trade chips ahead of the 2025/26 season, the Lakers' options to fortify their roster were limited. As a result, Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, and Marcus Smart, each of whom signed a short-term contract that paid in the $5-10MM range, headlined the club's relatively modest list of newcomers.
In the process of making room to fit those players below a first-apron hard cap, L.A. let Dorian Finney-Smith walk in free agency and waived Jordan Goodwin, whose minimum-salary contract was mostly non-guaranteed.
The returns on those roster maneuvers during Doncic's first full season as a Laker were mostly positive. Ayton, a former No. 1 overall pick who likes to be a primary scoring option, wasn't a perfect fit for a Lakers team looking for a center willing to do more of the dirty work - including protecting the rim, rebounding, and setting screens - but he eventually bought into his role. Letting Finney-Smith get away to a conference rival earned the club some criticism at the time but ultimately paid off when his recovery from ankle surgery extended well past opening night, leading to a career-worst year in Houston.
LaRavia's three-point shooting dropped off in 2025/26, but he provided solid defense on the wing and was the only Laker to appear in all 82 regular season games. Los Angeles' biggest roster misstep was waiving Goodwin, who had a breakout year for the division-rival Suns. Still, that move was necessary to bring in Smart, whose own bounce-back season on a pretty team-friendly deal mitigated the effects of losing Goodwin.
Perhaps most importantly, the Lakers' "big three" of Doncic, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James ultimately thrived together, with James settling into a new role as a third option and letting the two younger guards function as the team's primary offensive weapons. Everything seemed to come together for the Lakers during a 16-2 stretch between the end of February and the end of March, with Doncic, Reaves, and James combining to average over 76 points and 20 assists per game while role players like Ayton, Smart, and Luke Kennard played some of their best basketball of the season.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, that stretch came to an abrupt end on April 2 when both Doncic and Reaves suffered significant muscle strains (a hamstring for Doncic and an oblique for Reaves) in a blowout loss to Oklahoma City. The Lakers still managed to pull out a first-round series win over Houston with Doncic sidelined and James reclaiming his role as the offensive alpha, but without their MVP available, the Lakers couldn't hang with the Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals and were on the wrong end of a second-round sweep.
Sixteen months removed from the shocking Doncic blockbuster, a Lakers team looking to reestablish itself as a title contender can no longer get by on the residual good vibes of that deal, but there are more reasons for optimism entering the 2026 offseason. That March run represented a proof of concept for this version of the Lakers, and the front office will be better equipped this summer to pursue upgrades and reshape the roster.
The Lakers' Offseason Plans
James is an all-time great whose jersey will eventually hang from the rafters in Crypto.com Arena, but at age 41, he's no longer the most important part of the Lakers' future. In fact, he's not even their most important free agent of the 2026 offseason from a long-term perspective, given that Reaves is also on track to reach free agency once he formally passes on his $14.9MM player option for 2026/27.
Still, the Lakers' next move with James could largely determine which direction their offseason takes.
