The Los Angeles Lakers were looking like a major title threat before the latest bout of injuries derailed their season.
Now, without two of his team’s top scorers, JJ Redick says there’s a lot that will change. Speaking strategically, Redick explained that the team will be playing through LeBron James and that their main goal remains unchanged: win a first-round playoff series.
“From a strategic, tactical standpoint, we obviously are gonna have to play a little bit differently,” said Redick. “There’s enough that we have in that we can play through LeBron, play through Rui, play through DA. And then we’ll just wait and see until Austin and Smart are back, but our mission hasn’t changed: we want to go get the 3-seed, and we want to win a first-round series. Luka’s gonna do everything he can to get back on the court. We don’t know what his recovery time looks like, but we’re going for the three seed and to try to win a playoff series.”
“Until we know the status of AR and Smart, those are the second and third ball handlers, so with the ball handling role, we’ll obviously have to ask guys to do more,” Redick added. “Kobe, Nick, Dalton, those guys will be with us at some point for tomorrow… we’ll probably have to play a 10 and 11-man rotation, all hands on deck.”
The Lakers are currently without three starters right now: Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Marcus Smart, who are all listed as out for Sunday’s game against the Mavericks. Between the absence of Reaves and Doncic, the Lakers just lost over 50 points of scoring per game, putting all the pressure on LeBron to keep the offense running with timely baskets and smart passes.
The problem is, at 41 years old, LeBron James is not in the best place to lead the Lakers right now. With averages of 20.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game on 50.7% shooting and 34.8% shooting from three, we know he can still produce at a high level, but it remains to be seen if he’s still able to carry like he used to.
With some of the worst scoring numbers of his career, LeBron was playing more of a background role behind Austin and Luka, allowing them to direct the offense while he did his best to fit in. The results looked promising, but we may never get the chance to see it through.
With Reaves and Luka gone, and potentially not coming back, the Lakers must press ahead into the unknown. No matter how far they fall in the standings, a spot in the top six is guaranteed, and that means there’s still a chance to make a run. For Redick, the key to success is adjusting quickly without Luka, and that means rewriting the game plan as soon as possible.
Only time will tell what that plan looks like for the Lakers, but we can probably expect to see much more ball movement and play calling as they enact a more structured offense. Without their stars, the Lakers must rely on teamwork, chemistry, and perfect execution to get wins, and it’s much easier said than done. If they can just get out of the first round, however, there is a possibility that both Reaves and Luka could return to give them one last chance at pulling off a miracle.
