Over the last few days, the Los Angeles Lakers have been participating in training camp and practicing in preparation for the upcoming 2025-26 season. The only problem is that LeBron James and Luka Doncic have not been practicing alongside the rest of the team for vague injury reasons that evidently restrict them from being around their teammates.
Recently, Lakers buyout market addition, center Deandre Ayton, confirmed this during an interview after practice.
“Asked Deandre Ayton what he can get out of playing without Luka Doncic and LeBron James at this stage of the preseason,” reported Law Murray of the Athletic on X, formerly Twitter. “Ayton mentioned he hasn't been able to work with Luka or Bron yet. And it might be a couple weeks until that does happen.”
Needless to say, the good folks on X, formerly Twitter, are puzzled by the Lakers' anti- team building strategy.
“Lakers gonna be a clown show this season,” predicted one fan.
“Nice leadership from Lebron and Luka,” added another.
“This is really crazy! 13 days to season tip off and our two best players haven’t had any reps with our new center,” pointed out one user.
A concerning development for the Lakers
The entire purpose of training camp and the preseason is to get NBA players acclimated with their new teammates so that they can hit the ground running once the regular season begins, and the fact that the Lakers are not doing that is certainly not great news for fans hoping for an improvement off last year's team.
Los Angeles is entering the first full year of the Doncic era and another season of the James era after his recent hint at a retirement announcement predictably turned out to be nothing more than a Hennessy ad.
Still, with JJ Redick evidently unable to get his team together on the practice court, the Lakers may have to figure things out on the fly once the season tips off, which could be a recipe for disaster in the current Western Conference.
