The Los Angeles Lakers have made bold moves in the offseason, appointing JJ Redick as head coach and drafting Bronny James. These decisions may bear fruit in the future, but they will not lead the Lakers to the 2024-25 NBA championship.
Anyone who thinks beyond the short term can see the vision behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ moves in the offseason.
JJ Redick, an upstart coach with a bright and highly respected basketball mind, has been signed to a four-year contract and given an opportunity to lead the Lakers at a time when expectations are lower than ever.
Bronny James has been drafted, a move that will surely appease superstar forward LeBron James, his father, and the team’s star player.
This will likely signal to future stars hedging their bets that the Lakers are a good team to sign for, as they take care of their star players. However, James and fellow star Anthony Davis at power forward/centre are not currently well-positioned to lead the Lakers to an NBA Championship.
At 39 years old, James is still a monumentally gifted athlete and a player who can play a huge role in a successful team – as evidenced by his decisive contributions to Team USA in their gold medal win at the Olympics. However, he is no longer the kind of player who can singlehandedly lead a franchise to a ring.
He suggested as much himself when he described teammate Davis as “the face [of the franchise]” when talking to ESPN.
However, Davis himself is not in a position to carry the Lakers to championship glory. At 31 years old, he has battled regular injuries, meaning that although he is still an incredible player when fit, the hopes of the franchise cannot be placed squarely on his shoulders.
That leaves the Lakers without a clear leader heading into the 2025/26 NBA season and while James and Davis remain the two most influential players on the roster, they are not positioned to do the job alone as they did in 2020, when they won the championship in the COVID-19 bubble as a younger duo, and their supporting cast this year is not championship-worthy.
Small forward Dalton Knecht was an astute draft pick at 17th out of Tennessee. However, Bronny James – while a capable basketball player – is not ready to play a key role in bridging the gap between the Lakers, who went 47-35 in the regular season in 2023/24 and then lost 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets, and the league’s best teams.
Knecht cannot do it alone either – and while strong players, the likes of Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves are unlikely to turn into world-leading stars for the upcoming season.
The Lakers are contenders to make the playoffs once again out of the Western Conference and they could retain their NBA Cup title in the play-in tournament. However, they are not ready to go all the way and challenge for an NBA championship. For Redick, this season must be viewed as one of transition rather than one in which he should be expected to offer instant results.
If you are looking for a team in the Western Conference who can exceed expectations this season, you would be better off setting your sights on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
