Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 115-103 loss to the Pistons.
Simply put, this was an absolutely pitiful performance by the Lakers.
Los Angeles’ heart and effort were not up to the standard of a basketball team with postseason aspirations, much less championship ones.
The Pistons bench dominated the Lakers backups 27-10 and L.A. was outrebounded by Detroit 55-37. The 12-point loss does not illustrate just how poorly the team performed, but these individual grades will attempt to demonstrate it.
So, let’s dive into the loss. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.
Anthony Davis
39 minutes, 37 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 13-23 FG, 0-4 3PT, 11-14 FT, -1
There is plenty of blame to go around for this defeat, but nothing AD is not one of the players that needs to be held accountable.
Once again, he was magnificent, scoring 37 points and giving an elite effort on both ends of the floor. In the fourth quarter, he tweaked his ankle and looked very bothered by it but refused to come out of the game.
He played the rest of the way and showed tremendous heart and guts to push through his discomfort and try to mount a comeback.
If half the team had shown the level of care or passion that AD did Monday night, this would’ve been a blowout win. Shame on them for letting his effort be in vain.
Grade: A+
Rui Hachimura
35 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 2-6 FG, 2-2 3PT, 2-2 FT, -7
Did we all fall in love with a Hachimura that doesn’t exist?
These past few games, he’s been displaying his bad traits from last year — like his suspect defense — and fewer of his good attributes from the first few games like his ability to attack the basket and crash the boards.
The Lakers have many problems with their bench unit, but tonight, you can add Rui to the players who disappointed.
Playing 35 minutes, he needs to do a little bit of everything better to warrant that amount of time, even on this team.
Grade: C-
LeBron James
40 minutes, 20 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, 7-16 FG, 1-2 3PT, 5-5 FT, -16
Okay, what’s going on with LeBron? Being sick, I understand. Pacing himself during the early parts of the season? Sure. This isn’t that.
This is awful play from one of the few players with a legitimate argument as the greatest basketball player of all time.
Monday night was not an example of Father Time catching up to the King. It was a middle finger to the basketball gods.
Lazy fadeaway jumpers for no reason, careless turnovers that were so bad that even LeBron didn’t pretend it was someone else’s fault and a defensive effort that would make D’Angelo Russell blush.
Do better, LeBron. I know you can.
Grade: F
D’Angelo Russell
33 minutes, 11 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4-14 FG, 2-5 3PT, 1-2 FT, -1
The aggression was there and that’s good, but the execution was absent in Russell’s game. He missed so many layups near the rim that it was almost impressive.
D’Angelo Russell Finish At The Rim Once Challenge
— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) November 5, 2024
This season, he has yet to find a rhythm and the Lakers could’ve used a good D’Lo game to help them out of this funk.
Grade: C
Austin Reaves
39 minutes, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 7-17 FG, 3-10 3PT, 0-1 FT, -14
At least Reaves tried tonight.
Was he effective? Not really, but he kept looking for his shot and have and never quit. Usually, that’s to be expected, but in this contest, it’s borderline admirable.
His biggest highlight was doing a jump stop to complain about a call to the referee and getting a tech for it.
The foul was missed, but he also exaggerated it, so, yeah, I don’t care so much and we won’t be seeing reports about those errors in this blowout.
Grade: C
Cam Reddish
14 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, +10
Even the second coming of Pat Riley is forced to use Cam Reddish when given this roster.
Reddish played well and gave a much better defensive effort than anyone else on the perimeter, but him having to play and looking better than the other options says more about the Lakers than it does about him.
Somewhere, Darvin Ham is smiling tonight.
Grade: B+
Gabe Vincent
18 minutes, 0 points, 1 steal, -5
Send Vincent to whoever will take him. I am done.
Grade: F
Jaxson Hayes, Max Christie, Dalton Knecht
None of these players made it past the nine-minute mark in time played, so no grades tonight. Here are a few thoughts on why that is and what it means moving forward.
For Hayes, it was likely just circumstantial, given how the game was going. Also, he provided nothing defensively and his best offensive play was him missing shots near the rim and grabbing them until he scored.
Knecht should’ve gotten a lot more run. He’s a great shooter and could’ve maybe given this team a jump start. He scored five points and was 2-2 from the field. I understand rookies have to earn trust but look at who you’re trusting now.
It’s not a good sign that Christie went from averaging 17 minutes a game to just playing four verus the Pistons. He hasn’t played well, which may be why he didn’t play much last year. His finishing near the rim is poor and his 3-point shooting is below average. It’s early, but this is concerning.
JJ Redick
Redick should’ve called for a timeout earlier in this game. He did it after the Pistons’ 9-0 run and they were rolling by then.
I also don’t like the reaction to Christie’s play and making such a dramatic shift. It feels too soon and confidence and trust need to be established with young players. In another week, sure, but right now, that felt unnecessary and more importantly, it didn’t result in a win.
There have been a couple of games during this road trip where the Lakers have had some rough stretches and Redick has to get them to be sharper at the start of games. Had they done that, they wouldn’t have been down by 20 in the first half and spent the rest of the game crawling out of that deficit.
Grade: C
Monday’s DNP: Bronny James
Monday’s inactives: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis, Christian Koloko, Quincy Olivari, Armel Traore, Jarred Vanderbilt, Christian Wood
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.