After a strong start, the Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of their roughest stretch of the season so far. After yet another blowout loss, this time to the Detroit Pistons, JJ Redick’s squad is heading into 2026 having lost four of their last five games and seven of their last 12, all coming by double-digits.
Injuries have certainly played their part in changing the course of the Lakers season. Austin Reaves is out at least a month and LeBron James missed the first 14 games of the year, while role players such as Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent and Jaxson Hayes have all been in and out of the lineup throughout the year.
With all of the constant lineup and rotation changes, Redick admitted that it has been hard for the Lakers to truly establish an identity this season.
“Still trying to figure that out,” Redick said after the Pistons loss. “And I know that’s maybe a cop out, probably is, but I do know that we have had a lot of stops and starts, and we’ve tried to, not just the staff. I’m saying our team, the players have, everybody. We’ve really tried to play the right way every night and have the right intent. The flow of lineups and rotations and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches.
“It’s just a challenge for the players and building an identity is difficult, I think. It’s, if you think about our team last year, and this team is different, our identity will eventually be different. But we didn’t get that identity until late January it felt like. And then we had to shift again. So, I don’t think it’s unnatural. I remember a meeting I had with Phil [Jackson] last year, pretty early in the season, and he said, ‘I always felt like I knew who my team was by Thanksgiving.’ I think that’s hard to figure out with this team right now.”
The Lakers seemed to be a team built on a top-tier offense led by Luka Doncic, Reaves and James while being a scrappy defense able to get just enough stops when it mattered most. But as the year has gone on, the defense has fallen off a cliff while the offense has struggled to remain consistent with so many injuries forcing players in and out of the lineup.
Whatever the case may be, the onus is on Redick, the coaching staff and the players to figure things out and get this season back on track before things fall completely off the rails.
JJ Redick calls Lakers loss to Pistons ‘deflating’
The Lakers hung with the Pistons for three quarters before things got out of hand in the fourth and Redick explained why this was a deflating loss for his team.
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