The 2025-26 Los Angeles Lakers are in rather exclusive company at the moment, and history tells us that this specific company isn't all that great.
Entering the All-Star break, despite having a 33-21 record, the Lakers have been outscored by a point, which is not typical at all. In fact, L.A. is just the third team in NBA history with a winning percentage of 60% or better and a negative point differential at the All-Star break.
“The other two aren’t exactly teams the Lakers want to emulate,” The Athletic's Law Murray wrote. “The 2021 Portland Trail Blazers went 21-14 into the All-Star Break while being outscored by 15 points and exited the Western Conference quarterfinals against the Denver Nuggets in six games. The 1997 Charlotte Hornets went 29-19 record (.604) while getting outscored by 15 points and then got swept in the 1997 Eastern Conference quarterfinals by the New York Knicks.”
As a result of their record, the best of the three in the club, and a stellar, league-best 15-3 record in clutch time, Murray has labeled the Lakers' season “somewhat of an outlier.”
That may bode well for LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Co., although last season, the Lakers fell apart in the first round of the playoffs despite having a solid record after the acquisition of Doncic in the regular season. Still, the Lakers are almost certainly an improved team, in general, when compared to the 2024-25 squad, which had better injury luck and yet were still not as steady as this year's Lakers.
Only one L.A. player this year has played in every game: Jake LaRavia. Additionally, he is the only player on the team who has played more than 46 games. The Lakers' star players — James, Doncic, and Austin Reaves — have all missed at least a dozen games each. Reaves had been out for over a month until recently, James missed almost the entire first month of the season, and Doncic was sidelined with a hamstring injury for the final four games before the All-Star break.
The Lakers return to action on Friday against crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, at home before hosting the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
