Lakers Notes: LeBron, Playoff Seed, Kennard, Vanderbilt
If there’s a silver lining for the Lakers after losing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injuries, it’s the fact that LeBron James has shown he can still dominate when asked to spearhead an offense, says Melissa Rohlin of The California Post.
The 41-year-old superstar was the third offensive option for the first time in his 23-year career before his teammates got injured, but he has averaged 28.0 points, 12.7 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 60.0% from the field, including 46.2% on three-pointers, in three games as the team’s primary offensive hub, Rohlin notes.
“I had to tap back into a role that I’ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously it wasn’t what it was this year,” James said. “But circumstances have put me back in there, and I’m just trying to feed off my teammates, teammates are feeding off of me, and just trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- While the team’s final seed is still up in the air, Los Angeles secured home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs after Friday’s slate of games, writes Khobi Price of The California Post. The Nuggets and Lakers are assured of being the third and fourth seeds, in some order, while Houston is locked in at No. 5 and Minnesota is No. 6. The Lakers, who are currently No. 4, need to beat Utah Sunday and need Denver to lose at San Antonio to move up to No. 3.
- Luke Kennard has been given far more on-ball and play-making duties with Doncic and Reaves out and has responded with 31 assists in the last four games, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times. Head coach JJ Redick praised the veteran guard’s professionalism and willingness to embrace various responsibilities, while James lauded Kennard’s versatility. “He’s just a ball player,” James said. “… People just kind of gave him the narrative of just being a shooter. But he does so many more things. He can handle the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can make plays. … And what we’re missing right now, we need it [from him]. We need it more and more than ever.”
- Veteran forward Jarred Vanderbilt addressed his recent confrontation with Redick after Friday’s win over Phoenix, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays (Twitter video link). “We talked about it, we moved on from it,” Vanderbilt said. “At this point in the season, we both realize this is the group we got. So it’s definitely not a time for anybody to separate.”
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Horford, Santos, Durant, Suns
After missing nine straight games due to a right ankle contusion, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart will return to action on Friday for the Lakers, tweets Jovan Buha. Los Angeles, which is jockeying for playoff seeding in the Western Conference, faces Phoenix tonight.
Head coach JJ Redick said Thursday that he spoke to Luka Doncic, who is rehabilitating from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in Europe, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Redick said Doncic was in “relatively good spirits,” adding that it’s been good to have Austin Reaves around the team as he recovers from his own injury (oblique strain).
Redick also had a conversation with Jarred Vanderbilt about Tuesday’s spat in which the 27-year-old forward accosted Redick for calling a timeout to remove him from the game (Twitter link via McMenamin). Redick didn’t divulge any details about that conversation but said it went “great.” Vanderbilt played 26 minutes in Thursday’s win at Golden State after receiving just five on Tuesday.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- As expected, Al Horford will return from a 14-game absence on Friday in Sacramento, relays Anthony Slater of ESPN (via Twitter). The Warriors big man has been out since March 13 due to a right calf (soleus) strain. Horford, who holds a $5.97MM player option for next season, has averaged 8.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 blocks in 43 appearances in 2025/26 (21.7 minutes per game).
- Several filmmakers from Brazil have been recording documentary footage of Gui Santos throughout the course of the Warriors forward’s third NBA season, as Danny Emerman of The San Francisco Standard details. The former second-round pick has unexpectedly been thrust into a major rotation role the past couple months after Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. Santos said he watches every episode and his family back home in Brazil loves the series, which is released on YouTube with English subtitles. “It’s on the internet, so that’s one thing that’s never going to get lost,” Santos told Emerman. “So, when I’m 50 years old or 40 years old, sit with my grandsons on the sofa just watching that: ‘Look, your grandpa was strong, your grandpa was playing in the NBA.’ That will be nice.“
- Rockets forward Kevin Durant said prior to Tuesday’s matchup in Phoenix that he’s “pretty much over” the way his Suns tenure ended, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. It was Durant’s first game in Phoenix since he was traded to Houston last summer. “At the time, it was tough to take. A place I wanted to be. I wanted to keep building, but it’s the business of the league and it’s the business of basketball,” Durant said. “You’re not going to be in the same place all the time. It is what it is. Yeah, I was sour early on, but I think I’ve gotten over it. Time heals all. Just move on.” The 37-year-old star had 24 points, four rebounds and three assists during Tuesday’s game, which Houston won.
Lakers Notes: Rotation, Smart, Vanderbilt, Reaves, Season
The Lakers have been left searching for answers in the wake of multi-week injuries to star guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, writes Benjamin Royer of The Southern California News Group. Head coach JJ Redick is trying to find a workable rotation with three regular season games remaining before the playoffs, but some of the players who seemed like locks for more minutes and touches have struggled.
Starting center Deandre Ayton, for instance, only had three points (on 1-of-4 shooting) and three rebounds in Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City. Redick said he’s been calling plenty of plays for the No. 1 overall pick, yet the Bahamian big man hasn’t been able to capitalize on those opportunities.
“He’s just had trouble catching the ball,” Redick said. “And I don’t know if that’s the passing or if it’s, you know, him trying to get position, he just, he hasn’t been able to catch the ball.”
Entering last week’s game against the Thunder, in which both Doncic and Reaves sustained their respective injuries, the Lakers had gone 16-2 over their last 18 games. They’ve now dropped three straight, with lingering uncertainty about what the rotation will look like in the postseason.
“Chemistry was high,” guard Luke Kennard said. “We were really close as a group, and it still is. I feel like this might have brought us even closer. Obviously, it’s a different look out there on the court and different voices, but it was definitely a shock and something we weren’t expecting this late in the year going into the playoffs.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Law Murray of The Athletic takes a look at which players might be part of the playoff rotation, listing them in tiers based on their likelihood of receiving minutes. LeBron James is in his own tier as “the anchor,” followed by Kennard, Marcus Smart, Jaxson Hayes and Jake LaRavia, who are in the “rotation locks” tier. Smart will miss his ninth consecutive game Thursday at Golden State due to a right ankle contusion, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Redick continues to refer to Smart as day-to-day, according to Murray, though the second-year coach acknowledged the team thought the veteran guard would have returned from the injury by now.
- Redick downplayed a spat he had with Jarred Vanderbilt in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. Redick called timeout just 16 seconds into the second quarter to remove Vanderbilt, though it wasn’t clear why, and the 27-year-old responded by verbally lashing out at his coach. Redick said a “confluence of things” led to the incident. “It’s nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end,” Redick said after the loss. “I think for all of us, being undermanned, we’ve got to scrap and claw, we’ve got to all be on the same page, we got to be great teammates, we got to all play hard. Called a timeout to get him out of the game. And he reacted. But again, normal interaction for me.” Vanderbilt, who didn’t play at all after the incident, finished with three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in five minutes. The eighth-year forward left the arena before reporters were permitted into the locker room, McMenamin notes.
- Reaves is widely expected to decline his $14.9MM player option for next season to become a free agent this summer. How much money will he make in unrestricted free agency? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores that question, writing that the 27-year-old will likely receive a multiyear deal with a starting salary somewhere between $30MM and $41.3MM (his max) in 2026/27.
- The Lakers aren’t going anywhere in the playoffs and the team should shut down Doncic and Reaves for the rest of the season so they don’t risk long-term damage by attempting to rush back from their injuries, argues Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Doncic traveled to Europe to try to expedite his recovery process from a Grade 2 hamstring strain, while Reaves is battling a strained oblique muscle.
Lakers’ Redick Defends Decision To Play Doncic, Reaves In Blowout
The Lakers‘ season took an unfortunate turn last Thursday as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured during a 134-96 loss to Oklahoma City. Speaking with reporters before Sunday’s game at Dallas, head coach JJ Redick explained his decision to use both players in the second half with the team trailing by a wide margin, per Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Doncic was diagnosed on Friday with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that could sideline him for a month or more. He plans to seek treatment in Europe in hopes of making a faster recovery. On Saturday, the Lakers learned that Reaves will miss four-to-six weeks with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury.
Redick said internal medical data didn’t show any signs that Doncic was being overused heading into Thursday. He grabbed at his left hamstring at one point in the first half, but received medical clearance to go back into the game. He suffered the injury early in the third quarter after planting his left leg and again reached for his hamstring.
Reaves experienced a tweak in his left side during the first half of Thursday’s game and went to the locker room to have it checked. He returned in the third quarter and appeared to aggravate the initial injury.
“As a coach, you go on the information you have,” Redick said. “He was medically cleared. When Austin came back, I asked directly. I thought he was hurt. (I was told), ‘No, he’s medically cleared.’ The group wanted to go for it in the second half. Talked about it at halftime. And I think, for both those guys, the nature of playing heavy minutes, that’s certainly a part of, like any equation when you’re trying to manage workloads. We also rely on the tracking data, and we’re looking at that after every game. You know, acceleration, jumps, workload, all of those things.
“And there have been a few times this year where it’s gone, away from the standard deviation of whatever their baseline is, and we make the proper adjustments. There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot,’ as we call it.”
Redick also talked about the need to “extend the season” so Doncic and Reaves can return at some point in the playoffs. L.A. is currently tied with Denver at 50-28 and holds the tie-breaker for the No. 3 seed in the West, but a challenging schedule lies ahead with games this week against Oklahoma City, Golden State, Phoenix and Utah.
The Lakers got their first look at what life is going to be like in the meantime in Sunday’s loss to the Mavericks, per Dave McMenamin and Shams Charania of ESPN. L.A. gave up 41 points in the first quarter and trailed by 22 at one point before rallying to make the game close.
They used a starting lineup of LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia that had never played together before Sunday. McMenamin and Charania note that the group that started the second quarter – James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber and Kobe Bufkin – was also playing together for the first time.
James talked about the shock of finding out about Reaves’ absence in the wake of Doncic’s injury.
“I took my nap after practice, and I woke up with that news, it was like another shot to the [head],” James said. “It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. … But we kind of got that news kind of quick, and AR … we knew he was going to get an MRI, but I woke up from my nap yesterday and then saw that news, and I was like, ‘S–t.’ That was literally my tone.”
James took on a larger role with the other two stars sidelined, but the Lakers are going to be careful not to overuse him for the rest of the regular season, according to Khobi Price of The California Post. He finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists in 39 minutes – marking just his sixth 30-point game of the season, along with his highest assist total of 2025/26.
“We did enough intentionally to get him sort of out of actions and not have him involved in every single play when he was out there,” Redick said. “And then there were times when he would get an outlet pass or get the ball and just kind of manipulated the half-court set for us and we got some good stuff.”
Trade Rumors: Morant, Lakers, Pelicans, Mathurin, Kuminga
Although Ja Morant‘s time with the Grizzlies has been on a downward trajectory for a few years, tensions reached a boiling point at the end of October, when Morant received a team-issued one-game suspension, writes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged Morant’s “leadership and effort” following a loss to the Lakers in which the point guard was noticeably disengaged throughout the second half. Morant responded to Iisalo in a “tone deemed inappropriate.”
According to Siegel’s sources, the event led to a schism in Memphis’ locker room, with some players agreeing with Morant and some siding with the coaching staff. He never formally requested a trade, but the 26-year-old made it clear he couldn’t see a path forward with the Grizzlies in the wake of the suspension, Siegel adds.
The Heat hold a level of interest in Morant, Siegel confirms. The Kings are also hanging on the periphery of the situation, though they’d only be interested in acquiring Morant if the asking price was low enough — Sacramento is unwilling to part with draft assets in any talks for the two-time All-Star, sources tell Siegel.
Here are a few more rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- The Lakers are exploring the possibility of trading their 2032 first-round pick for two or three lesser-value first-rounders, according to Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link), who points out that Phoenix made a similar move last year in a deal with Utah. Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent have both been made available as Los Angeles continues to search for a wing upgrade, O’Connor adds.
- The Pelicans are among the teams with interest in Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin, league sources tell Siegel (Twitter video link). Indiana has checked in with New Orleans about second-year center Yves Missi, and Siegel wonders if the two clubs could potentially make a deal centered around those two players.
- Head coach Steve Kerr said Jonathan Kuminga‘s trade demand won’t cause any problems for the Warriors prior to Thursday’s game vs. New York, as Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “It won’t be a distraction,” Kerr said. “Jonathan’s a great young guy. His teammates like him. He’s handling himself well. There won’t be a distraction.” Kerr said he spoke to Kuminga earlier in the day. “There’s not a whole lot I can say about the other stuff,” Kerr said. “It is what it is. Difficult situation for everybody. Part of this league, part of this job. We just keep moving forward. But it’s a tough situation and I don’t really have much to add.”
Spurs Notes: Wemby, Champagnie, K. Johnson, Sochan, Bryant
Victor Wembanyama helped lead the Spurs to a victory on Saturday in Boston, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. The star big man scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and hit a couple of key jump shots late in the game to seal the victory.
“My mindset was just we have to close out that game,” Wembanyama said. “I think too often, I mean it’s easier said than done, but too often we do lots of efforts and let it go to waste one way or the other. So, I felt like not letting that happen.”
Wembanyama has come off the bench for the past three games since a knee injury caused him to miss two consecutive contests. The 22-year-old center indicated that he’s close to returning to the starting lineup, Orsborn notes.
“The goal is to start soon and to keep it that way for the rest of the season,” Wembanyama said.
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama praised Julian Champagnie following Saturday’s victory, Orsborn adds. Champagnie has been starting in place of Devin Vassell, who is out with a left adductor strain. The 24-year-old wing delivered his fifth double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds) on Saturday and blocked a Derrick White three-point attempt in the closing seconds. “We trust him,” Wembanyama said of Champagnie. “The front office, the coaching staff, everybody believes in him and he’s just capitalizing on that. It’s like we can’t do without him now. He’s part of this. He’s indispensable.”
- Keldon Johnson has become one of the top bench players in the NBA, but it’s a role he was initially reluctant to accept after once being a full-time starter, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. “If I was to say it’s easy, I would be lying,” Johnson said. “As a young player, you have some success early on, you score a lot of points in the NBA, it takes a lot to sit back and take your ego away from it and say, ‘OK what do I need to do to be able to contribute to this team now?’” Johnson, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, is having the most efficient offensive season of his career. “It would be hard for him not to at least be in the (Sixth Man of the Year) conversation,” head coach Mitch Johnson said. “He’s been phenomenal and he’s been consistent. He’s been a mainstay. It’s every night with that guy.”
- Fourth-year forward Jeremy Sochan downplayed a post-game incident on Wednesday in which Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt poked him in the face, as Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com relays. “I must’ve said something to him during the game, and maybe it wasn’t very nice,” Sochan said. “He must have taken it in the wrong way and told me to see him after the game. So, I did. And we just had a polite exchange. I was, I think, intact and very joyful and the other person wasn’t. Yeah, he just wasn’t emotionally stable in that moment. So, it’s something he has to work on. It’s just life.”
- Late lottery pick Carter Bryant was assigned to the G League on Friday and played 28 minutes with the Austin Spurs, recording 15 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes, prior to being recalled on Saturday. According to Orsborn, coach Johnson said the rookie forward won’t be sent down on a regular basis. “That was the most minutes I have played since my senior year at high school, so it was a great opportunity for me to get some live reps, to see the ball go through basket a little bit,” said Bryant. “That’s the biggest thing in the game of basketball. If your confidence is lacking, it’s going to be hard for you to play no matter how good you are.”
JJ Redick: ‘I’m Not Doing Another 53 Games Like This’
Lakers coach JJ Redick questioned his team’s professionalism and commitment to winning after Thursday’s 23-point loss to Houston, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The Rockets took control of the game early, building a 14-point lead in the first quarter and sustaining a double-digit advantage throughout the second half.
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”
Redick made similar comments after watching his team lose by 24 points to Phoenix on Tuesday. The Lakers have lost dropped three straight games and six of their last 10 and are now just three games away from falling into play-in tournament territory. Redick cited “effort and execution” as the difference on Thursday as Houston dominated the boards by a 48-25 margin and pulled down 17 offensive rebounds.
“Saturday’s practice — I told the guys — it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Redick said. “The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Luka Doncic was able to return after leaving Saturday’s game with a lower left leg contusion, but he didn’t provide much of a spark. McMenamin notes that he turned the ball over three times in the first 2:11 and finished with six giveaways for the night. Rui Hachimura also returned after missing two games with a groin strain, but Austin Reaves experienced calf soreness and didn’t play after halftime. He’s set to undergo an MRI today.
“I don’t know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change,” Doncic said. “Think we (were) blown out the last three games. It definitely looks, like, terrible. We got to figure out, that’s the thing we have (to do). … We just got to talk about it. Everybody got to talk about it. I know JJ said it’s going to be uncomfortable (for everybody). As they should be. … Everybody has got to give better effort, starting with me.”
LeBron James also had a rough night as L.A. was outscored by 33 points in the 32:26 he was on the court. According to McMenamin, it was James’ worst plus-minus rating since joining the Lakers and the third-worst of his career.
Jarred Vanderbilt, who came off the bench to contribute 11 points and five rebounds, also recognizes that changes need to happen before Sunday’s game against Sacramento.
“Ultimately, certain stuff just needs to be said and certain stuff needs to be done and we got to be able to communicate with each other and be receptive of it, whether it’s criticism or, we got to have them hard conversations,” Vanderbilt said. “JJ [was] alluding to that, that you got to have these conversations. We don’t want this to keep lingering. And right now it’s three in a row, but we don’t want it to keep going the wrong direction.”
Lakers Notes: Doncic, Ayton, Knecht, Vanderbilt
The Lakers are tied for the fourth-best record in the league, but head coach JJ Redick isn’t satisfied, demanding that the team lock in more on defense, writes Dave McMenamin for ESPN. Luka Doncic took those words to heart and says he’s committed to leading the way.
“We talked about a lot, not just that, but [Redick] was right,” Doncic said. “You got to get a little bit more, especially from the star players. So that’s on us. That’s on me. And we just got to give more, especially at the start the game. We got to start the game better.”
The Lakers have the NBA’s 20th-best defense entering Wednesday’s game while ranking 23rd in opponent fast-break points and 28th in opponent three-point percentage. According to McMenamin, with the time off afforded to the Lakers as a result of the NBA Cup schedule, the coaching staff walked the team through specific examples of where it’s lacking and what it needs to do better.
McMenamin adds that Sunday’s win against the Suns was the Lakers’ first contest following the edict issued by the coaches, and the results were on display during an eight-minute stretch of the third quarter in which Phoenix was held scoreless.
“We should be like that,” Doncic said. “Like JJ said, ‘We told on ourselves’ and we should look at that clip. Phoenix is one of the most physical teams in the NBA, so we did a pretty good job there.”
We have more from the Lakers:
- Deandre Ayton has been ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Jazz with left elbow soreness, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Ayton played a key role in Sunday’s win against the Suns, scoring 20 points on 11 shots and adding 13 rebounds and two steals. Austin Reaves remains out with the left calf strain that sidelined him on Sunday, while Gabe Vincent is questionable due to back soreness.
- Dalton Knecht was assigned to the South Bay Lakers G League team on Monday to get some playing time while the team was on its short break. It was his first time being sent to the G League, according to Khobi Price of the Orange County Register, who notes that Knecht has only played 56 minutes over the last month. “He’s gonna get opportunities on this team,” Redick said. “He’s already had some opportunities. He’s played well in some. He’s gonna help us at some point. But right now, he needs to play, and he needs to have fun playing.” Knecht responded by posting 30 points with six made three-pointers in his South Bay debut (Twitter video link).
- Jarred Vanderbilt rejoined the Lakers’ rotation for the first time in more than a month on Sunday and quickly made himself a critical part of the win, writes Dan Woike for The Athletic. The 6’8″ forward had six offensive rebounds in 15 minutes and added a three-pointer, a block, and two steals. It was only Vanderbilt’s second game since mid-November, but he took the demotion in stride. “It’s a long season. It’s still early, so I know whether guys getting injured or something like that, the opportunity (was) gonna come back around,” Vanderbilt said. “And the biggest thing is being ready for it mentally. And obviously doing your part on the court and, showing up to practice and being a good teammate and stuff like that, but yeah, my main thing was just staying ready. ‘Cause I knew eventually, at some point, opportunity was gonna come and I wanted to be ready for it.“
Lakers Notes: Vanderbilt, Reaves, Smart, Buss Brothers
The Lakers‘ success has helped to mask their defensive deficiencies, but they’ve been a concern all season long, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times (subscription required). Even though L.A. is off to a 17-7 start, the team ranks 18th in the league in points surrendered at 116.8 per game, 22nd in opponents’ field goal percentage at 48.1% and 27th in opponents’ three-point shooting at 38.2%.
Jarred Vanderbilt, who has made just one brief appearance in the past 10 games, is hoping he can help improve those numbers. A spot is the rotation has opened up while Austin Reaves recovers from a mild calf strain, and Vanderbilt could be called upon, beginning with Sunday’s game at Phoenix.
“Oh, yeah, I’m pretty eager,” he said after Saturday’s practice. “I mean, obviously, I think a lot of the stuff we lack, I think I can help provide on that end.”
The Lakers were hoping to be in Las Vegas this weekend for the NBA Cup semifinals, but they were eliminated Wednesday in a game where they gave up 132 points to San Antonio. Vanderbilt is averaging just 4.3 PPG and shooting 43.1% from the field, so his limited production has kept him on the bench, but his value could rise if coach J.J. Redick decides to place a greater emphasis on defense.
“It’s been a trending thing even when we was winning, so I think like you said, the defense still wasn’t there, but we was just outscoring everybody,” Vanderbilt told Turner. “So, I think obviously during the loss, it’s an appropriate time to address certain things just so it won’t keep lingering and get worse.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Redick said the team will be careful with Reaves’ recovery, but he doesn’t expect it to turn into a prolonged absence, Turner adds. Reaves played nearly 40 minutes on Wednesday before the issue was discovered. “It’s a mild strain, Grade 1, and he’ll be out for a week,” Redick said. “I would venture to say every player is a little bit different, but players now are becoming more cautious — to use that word again — more cautious when they get those diagnoses with the calf. Everything looks clean. It’s not in the deep part.”
- Marcus Smart said defense was the primary topic during a team meeting on Friday (Twitter video link from Khobi Price of The Orange County Register). “It exposed us a lot, which we already knew,” Smart said. “… The scouting report against us is we’re not guarding people. And if we want to be great in this league and do what we’re trying to do, you have to be able to guard.”
- After being removed from their front office roles with the Lakers last month, Joey Buss and Jesse Buss may consider investing in Major League Baseball’s Athletics franchise, according to Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times (subscription required). Two sources confirmed to Shaikin that discussions took place, but they’re described as preliminary. The Buss brothers still have their ownership stakes in the Lakers.
Lakers Notes: Vanderbilt, Smart, Doncic, More
After playing in each of the Lakers‘ first 14 games of the season, veteran forward Jarred Vanderbilt has been a DNP-CD for the team’s past six contests. Vanderbilt has dealt with numerous injuries that have limited his availability in recent years, but he’s healthy now, prompting head coach JJ Redick to explain earlier this week why the 26-year-old isn’t in the rotation.
“He’s been a pro. He’s been great,” Redick said (Twitter link via Dave McMenamin of ESPN). “In the most recent stay-ready (game) that we had this week, he was great. He’s been a great teammate, so no surprise there.
“I had communicated to him, even before LeBron (James) came back, that there were certain things that he needed to be able to do consistently to play before LeBron came back, after LeBron came back. And that there potentially was going to be a numbers crunch because we were probably going to play a nine-man rotation. And that was just the reality.
Redick went on to say that he didn’t want to tweak the rotation too much during a hot streak – the Lakers had won seven games in a row prior to Monday’s loss to Phoenix – but that Vanderbilt could eventually find himself regaining a more regular role, especially if the team loses anyone due to an injury.
We have more on the Lakers:
- Lakers guard Marcus Smart (lower back injury management) will miss a fourth straight game on Thursday in Toronto, while star guard Luka Doncic sits out for personal reasons. According to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops, Doncic has returned to his home country of Slovenia for the birth of his second child. His status for games in Boston on Friday and Philadelphia on Sunday is unclear.
- Law Murray of The Athletic and Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times take stock of where the Lakers stand at the one-quarter mark of the 2025/26 season. At 15-5, the team is on pace for a 60-win season, but has a relatively modest net rating of +3.1, the 12th-best mark in the NBA. The Lakers’ record is buoyed by the fact that they’re the only team without a loss in a “clutch” game, defined as a game within five points with fewer than five minutes remaining — Los Angeles is 6-0 in that situation.
- Within a look at a few potential contenders trying to challenge Oklahoma City in the Western Conference, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports notes that three-point shooting is an area the Lakers may look to address on the trade market. Los Angeles currently ranks 25th in the NBA in made three-pointers per game.
- If Giannis Antetokounmpo were to request a trade out of Milwaukee, could the Lakers make a legitimate play for him? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report considers that question and outlines what a trade package centered around breakout guard Austin Reaves might look like.