The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 124-104 at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday to enter the All-Star break with a 33-21 record. The Lakers climbed to fifth in the West with the win, and head coach JJ Redick stated postgame that he is satisfied with where they are, considering Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves have missed so much time.
“I did it as a player, probably do it more as a coach,” Redick said. “The micro day-to-day stuff that you fret over and you think about all day long, that’s one part of this job. The other part is the macro stuff and the big picture stuff… We’re top five in the West, and we’ve had those guys together for 10 games.
“AR has missed some time, an extended stretch,” Redick continued. “Luka has missed some time. Bron missed the start of the year. You take that. So, certainly doesn’t mean the day-to-day internal pressure you put on yourself, and that I know the guys put on themselves because they care, doesn’t mean that’s going to go away, but you’ve got to feel good about the last 14 games outside of San Antonio meeting the other night.”
Tuesday’s clash with the San Antonio Spurs was a complete disaster for the Lakers. They were without Doncic, James, and Reaves, and got crushed 136-108. The Lakers were expected to lose, but they put in little to no effort on the defensive end. Redick called out his players after the game for showing no intent defensively.
The Lakers weren’t great defensively in the first half here against the Mavericks, but managed to get their act together in the second and cruised to victory. James and Reaves had returned for this game, but Doncic hadn’t. This was the fourth straight game the Slovenian missed due to a left hamstring strain.
Doncic has been the healthiest of the Lakers’ stars, but he, too, has only played in 42 of the Lakers’ 54 games. If the 26-year-old misses more than five games the rest of the season, he will be ineligible for end-of-season awards and honors due to the 65-game rule.
James has already become ineligible, having only managed to play in 36 games so far. Even if he plays every game the rest of the way, he’ll only get to 64. This rule has meant that James’ incredible streak of 21 consecutive All-NBA selections has ended. He has at least made the All-Star team, but that isn’t the case for Reaves.
Reaves looked to have a pretty strong case to make the All-Star and All-NBA teams, with how well he played at the start of the season. The injury bug then struck, though, and he has only played in 28 games entering the break.
Reaves, of course, won’t be playing 65 games this season, and his missing so much time meant his chances of being an All-Star reserve were slim. A couple of players have pulled out of the game due to injury, but he hasn’t made it in as a replacement either.
For the Lakers to be 12 games over .500 with these three spending so much time on the sidelines is commendable. They have only played 10 games together, as Redick pointed out, and the hope would be that they’ll stay healthy after the break.
Interestingly enough, the Lakers were 33-21 after 54 games in the 2024-25 season as well. The difference, though, was that James and Reaves had only missed four and five games, respectively, of those 54 last season. Anthony Davis had also played in 42 out of 47 before he got traded for Doncic, so the big guns were available for the most part.
The Lakers would eventually finish that campaign with a 50-32 record. They’ll be looking to improve on that this time around.
