The Los Angeles Lakers have never been short on drama, hype, or expectation. The 2025-26 campaign was supposed to be the year where the acquisition of a generational talent like Luka Dončić, paired with the timeless genius of LeBron James, finally translated into an unstoppable force. On the surface, the narrative holds true: the Lakers opened the season blazing hot, achieving a remarkable 13-4 record and sitting atop the Pacific Division like rightful owners. The stats back up the confidence: an offensive rating of 118.4 points per 100 possessions and a steady 3.5 net rating. This team screams contender.
But for those who study the game film, a cold, hard truth flashes like a warning light. Beyond the highlight reels, the scoreboard’s veneer is cracking. Missed rotations, lazy closeouts, messy execution, and a pattern of systemic flaws indicate something deeper is profoundly wrong inside this star-studded lineup. If these slips aren’t fixed immediately, they won’t just be tiny problems; they will straight up shatter the foundation of a potential playoff dream, allowing rivals like the Denver Nuggets and the retooled Oklahoma City Thunder to expose them without hesitation.
The paradox of this Lakers team is breathtaking: they possess arguably the most terrifying two-man creative engine in basketball history, yet they harbor fundamental weaknesses that belong on a lottery-bound squad. The question isn’t whether LeBron and Luka can carry a team—they can, and they are—but how long they can carry one that is actively trying to sabotage itself.
The Engine of Dominance: Luka, LeBron, and the Rise of AR
To understand the scope of the problem, one must first appreciate the magnitude of the brilliance currently masking it. Luka Dončić is not merely having a great season; he is delivering an all-time great season. He opened the campaign with back-to-back 40-point explosions, joining a rarefied club of players—only the fourth ever—to achieve the feat, while setting a new Dallas record with 92 points in the first two nights. He then joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only other player in history to drop multiple 40-plus point games that early in a season, proving he arrived in full MVP mode. In just 12 games, Luka became the fastest player ever to hit 400 points and 100 assists. This isn’t just great basketball; it’s an effortless, complete control of the league.
Crucially, the Lakers have found a third pillar in the quiet consistency of Austin Reaves. Reaves has transitioned smoothly between starter and bench, stepping up in spectacular fashion, averaging around 28 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. His 51-point eruption on October 27, 2025, an achievement that puts him among a tiny group of Laker legends who have scored 45 or more, stamped him as someone who can absolutely be trusted in pressure moments. With DeAndre Ayton finally reviving his game and providing steady defense and rebounding—the stability the frontcourt desperately lacked last year—the formula, in theory, makes complete sense.
But here is where theory collapses into harsh reality.
The Fatal Flaw I: The Three-Point Crisis
The single, most glaring, championship-killing flaw is simple: the Los Angeles Lakers are ignoring the fundamental rule of modern title contention. The rule every great LeBron or Luka squad has always followed: surround your superstar with shooters.
Right now, the Lakers are sitting dead last in the entire league in three-pointers made.
In an NBA dominated by space, pace, and the threat of the three-pointer, this isn’t a deficiency; it’s a structural disaster. You simply cannot win championships when you don’t stretch the floor. The numbers are frighteningly ugly, and they are not improving. While Luka looks leaner and is pouring in 35 points a night, his three-point percentage is a career-low 33.3%. Austin Reaves, despite his offensive explosion, is shooting just 31.8% from deep compared to his career 36.6%. Even with LeBron back, drawing defenders into the paint, the threes simply are not dropping.
If this shooting drought persists, playoff defenses will respect the paint, stack the lane, and actively dare the Lakers to fire from outside—the exact same trap that strangled their offense last season. When those shots don’t fall, the entire offense freezes, forcing ugly drives and desperate, contested mid-range jumpers against elite defensive teams. This problem brings up an inescapable truth: the Lakers cannot ascend to elite status without fixing their perimeter game.
Flaw II: The Momentum-Killing Turnover Chaos
If poor shooting is the structural flaw, turnovers are the psychological killer. The Lakers are also sitting dead last in turnover percentage, coughing up the ball on almost 17% of their possessions. That’s not just bad basketball; it’s a direct gift to the opposition, turning sloppy passes into easy fast-break points that kill momentum and cost them games they should be walking out of with wins.
It’s bizarre that a team featuring Luka Dončić—who previously ran one of the most disciplined squads in ball control—is struggling this badly. While Luka’s personal turnover numbers are high but manageable for a primary creator, the overall team carelessness is the real shocker. Role players like Marcus Smart, brought in for veteran stability, are putting up two turnovers while barely cracking three assists. The sloppy decision-making is palpable, and coach JJ Redick’s frustration from the sidelines must be extreme. These are the types of mistakes that bury a team when the bright, cruel spotlight of playoff pressure hits.
Flaw III: The Unstable Foundation
Beneath the shooting and turnover chaos lies an even greater issue: identity and defense. Over the last decade, every championship squad finished top six in either offensive or defensive rating. While L.A.’s offense is carried by its star power, their defense is “nowhere close to elite.” Analysts warned that defense would be their main issue, and they were right: the team consistently struggles with missed rotations, slow closeouts, and lazy switches—tiny details that great teams punish instantly and without hesitation.
Against the established structure of rivals like Denver and OKC, these defensive lapses will turn into constant bleeding. The Lakers’ offense can carry them for stretches, but every time the defense falls asleep, teams with real championship structure tear them apart.
Furthermore, the team suffers from a catastrophic dependence on its stars. Luka, LeBron, and Austin Reaves are the entire engine. The moment even one of them sits, ball movement slows, spacing collapses, and efficiency drops fast. The bench hasn’t been giving much help either; when the second unit steps in, the defense softens and other teams climb back into the game immediately. In the playoffs, where opponents attack those weak stretches relentlessly, this lack of dependable depth will turn from a flaw into the exact reason their season ends earlier than expected.
The Luka Paradox and the Trade Deadline SOS
The counter-argument to this doom-and-gloom scenario rests solely on Luka’s unique brilliance. Back in 2024, Dončić led a Dallas Mavericks team that ranked only 10th in offense and 18th in defense all the way to the NBA Finals. He didn’t sneak in; he went through the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who were on pace to break the all-time wins record. Luka has already proven he can drag a fundamentally flawed team deep into the playoffs, even when the odds are stacked.
Paired with LeBron, the duo creates a terrifying playoff chaos. They are the only two players in history to average over 28 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists per game in the playoffs. Luka is also one of only two players (along with Michael Jordan) to ever average over 30 points per game in the postseason. The raw dominance is undeniable.
However, even historical dominance has its limits. Luka cannot fix an entire team’s three-point shooting and turnover problems alone. This is why the front office’s silence must soon turn into action.
If Rob Pelinka and the Lakers organization fail to fix the three-point shooting or turnover problem soon, a trade is the only real solution. They don’t need another superstar; they desperately need a high-impact 3-and-D wing who can defend tough matchups and hit threes without blinking.
While a fantasy trade for a player like Lauri Markkanen is unrealistic, the front office must think smaller but smarter. Players who could instantly move the needle include:
Keon Ellis: A potential sneaky-good target, squeezed out of the Sacramento rotation, whose three-point shot and perimeter defense would fit cleanly into the Lakers’ system.
Andrew Wiggins: A veteran with championship experience who can guard multiple positions and hits threes at a decent clip. He’s the kind of steady, unsung hero who wins playoff games.
Jeremy Grant: Pricey, but if Portland slips out of the play-in race, his ability to score close to 20 points a night while shooting over 40% from deep would slide perfectly into what L.A. needs right now.
Herb Jones: An ultimate defensive target with a First Team All-Defense resume. While not a top-tier shooter, his toughness and energy could instantly raise the team’s overall defensive level, though he would cost a lot of assets.
The Lakers are not far off. They are a single, high-impact, stabilizing wing away from going from solid to terrifying. The window to chase LeBron James’ fifth ring and push the GOAT conversation is open, but it is closing fast. Whether they find that missing piece or rely on Luka and LeBron to perform an unprecedented miracle remains the defining question of their season. If the Lakers fail to fix the flaws that are currently under the surface, the illusion of their early success will shatter come playoff time, and the heartbreak will be absolute.
