The Los Angeles Lakers were always going to need to be eased into the 2025-26 season considering how many new pieces they were going to have to integrate around Luka Doncic. Making matters worse is the fact that LeBron James is out indefinitely with a back injury — making it very difficult for the Lakers to start the season off on an ideal note.
The Lakers, in their opening night tussle against the Golden State Warriors, did show plenty of fight. Doncic, as per usual, was phenomenal, ending up with 43 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists as he was the only one whom the Lakers could rely upon to generate offense consistently for most of the night. But it wasn't enough, as the Warriors shut them down in the third quarter and the Purple and Gold could not recover en route to a 119-109 defeat.
A 0-1 start to the season is far from the worst outcome for any team. It is very early for the Lakers anyway, and things should get better, especially when new pieces such as Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart become more comfortable in their new threads.
But Lakers fans expect, nay, demand the best out of their team on any given night, and suffice to say, they were not at their best on Tuesday night against the Warriors.
“I know it's just one game, but Lakers don't look remotely close to contending, and please Marcus Smart, enough with the antics, LA doesn't need the sideshow,” X user @LibraSongMan wrote.
“The Lakers can win 50+ games this season that s**t don’t matter in the playoffs if we aren’t elite defensively.” @Lakerschipp furthered.
“JJ is going to have an aneurysm from this one,” @LakersLead added.
“Pelinka brains filled with bugs if he thought this roster would be improved by just adding Ayton,” @bil_cipher expressed.
Can the 2025 Lakers channel the spirit of the 2022 Mavericks?
This 2025 Lakers roster feels oddly similar to the Doncic-led 2022 Mavericks team that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. It's the Doncic heliocentric show that's backed up by another fringe All-Star ballhandler (Austin Reaves), with the rest of the team looking to play a supporting role — knocking down open threes, defending like hell on the perimeter, and rebounding the ball.
That 2022 Mavs team was treading water until January; from that point forward, Dallas went 35-12 and earned the fourth seed in the West with a 52-30 record. There's a chance that this Lakers team endures a slow start but takes off eventually, provided that LeBron James returns healthy and that Ayton gets his act together.
