Why JJ Redick’s “unpleasant” outburst signals a potential Lakers trade is on the horizon

Before their Christmas battle with the Houston Rockets, JJ Redick made it clear that his Los Angeles Lakers more effort is needed and that the “shortcuts” that some players use defensively are unacceptable. The lack of effort and intensity Redick saw from his group in a 132-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns led many to believe the Lakers would respond on Christmas Day against a physical Rockets team, especially with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves coming back from his injuries.

Unfortunately for Redick, a lot happened, and the Lakers lost once again, this time by 23 points on their home floor on Christmas Day. Again, the The Lakers coach pissed off his teamthis time making it clear that there will be no gifts waiting for them at Saturday’s training, but only coal.

“We don’t worry enough,” Redick told reporters Thursday night in LA. “And that’s the part that bothers me a lot. We don’t care enough about doing what we need to do, and we don’t care enough about being professional. We had it, we had it. I always say this about culture, I always say that a good team is a functional organism, that can change. We don’t have that right now.

“Saturday practice — I told the guys it’s going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not going to play another 53 games like this.”

Lakers coach JJ Redick is GONE after his team’s 119-96 loss to the Rockets 😳

“We were a terrible basketball team tonight…Saturday practice, I told the guys, it’s going to be embarrassing…I’m not going to play another 53 games like this.”pic.twitter.com/i37f0zLKS0H

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 26, 2025

The Lakers have officially reached a turning point in their season. After the loss to the Rockets, Los Angeles now finds itself in the midst of its first three-game losing streak of the season, and while they’re still 19-10 overall, the Lakers rank as the third-worst defensive team in the league since the start of December.

In this 10-game span, the Lakers went 4-6, surrendering an average of 121.4 points per game to their opponents.

Although health issues have questioned the Lakers’ depth of late, this is a team that relies solely on the production of Reaves, Doncic and LeBron James to lift heavy things. There is no defensive intensity, and the constant lack of ball movement has made the Lakers predictable on offense.

After all, the Lakers are 27th in assists and dead last in field goal attempts per game this season as their offense continues to lag outside of their “big three,” if that’s a term we still use in the NBA today.

The Lakers look sluggish, don’t have the athletes around their stars like most other Western Conference teams, and Redick’s frustrations are reaching a new boiling point. That raises all the questions for this team Rob Pelinkatable with the NBA trade deadline less than six weeks away.

Pressure for change in Los Angeles?

There was a big difference that stood out between the Lakers and Rockets on Christmas Day in Los Angeles.

Ever since Ime Udoka took over as head coach in Houston, his teams have always played with strengths in terms of physicality, toughness and simply giving their all on both ends of the court. The Rockets are always jumping for 50-50 balls, making extra passes, contesting shots and doing all the little things to make people look at them and say, “Those guys are hard to play.”

That just can’t be said for the Lakers. When Doncic, Reaves or James are knocking down shots, the Lakers’ offense can clearly carry them in many situations and mask defensive problems. But when the offensive production isn’t up to par, the Lakers look lost and simply outmatched when it comes to physicality and intensity.

There is no upside for this team outside of Redick, as he could probably provide a better defensive effort at age 41 than many on his roster. Unlike the Rockets, who naturally play hard and physical, the Lakers look like a team that needs constant reminders that those aspects are part of basketball.

Dončić can’t do all that despite being the face of the franchise, and even he knows something needs to change.

“I don’t know what needs to change, but definitely something needs to change,” Doncic said on Christmas Day, via Lakers reporter Hobie Price. “We’ll know in the next couple of games. We’ve got to figure it out, it’s a thing we’ve got to (do). Everybody’s got to talk about it. I know JJ said it’s going to be uncomfortable. As (it) should be.”

Redick is making it clear that change is necessary, and now Luca is signaling that what the Lakers currently have isn’t good enough. The pressure is obviously mounting on Pelinka and the Lakers front office to make some kind of change before the trade deadline, but aside from minimum contracts, the Lakers’ lack of total assets certainly limits them in potential trade talks.

For years, the winning idea for building a title team around LeBron was surrounding him with capable 3-point threats and athletic defenders. Los Angeles never really got it done for James, and the same script needed to be successful around Doncic isn’t being followed.

Gabe Vincent and Maxi Kleber, who are both in the final years of their contracts and making around $11 million, have virtually no value before the trade deadline unless their expiring salaries are added. Dalton Knecht, the Lakers’ 2024 first-round pick, is barely in the rotation and might give the Lakers a second-round pick at best in trade talks.

Jake LaRavia, who the Lakers signed in the offseason for a a two-year, $12 million contractcould generate interest on the market in the next few weeks as he is a young wing who has shown flashes of his perimeter shooting skills. However, his defensive prowess is questionable at times, and he alone won’t bring the Lakers what they need.

Jared Vanderbilt is an athletic forward the Lakers signed to a four-year extension in 2023 to be their defensive force on the wing, but his impact really hasn’t been felt all year. That essentially makes his contract dead weight for the Lakers unless they can present him with intriguing assets in trade talks.

And then there’s Rui Hachimura in the final year of his contract and making $18.2 million. This is a salary cap that Los Angeles has explored for potential moves since last year’s trade deadline, but no move has really presented itself to Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office.

Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins is a player The Lakers explored trade talks last offseasonand he’s the ideal type of athletic 3-and-D wing to pass around Doncic, James and Reaves. The problem is that the Heat haven’t touched anything Los Angeles has to offer, and Miami has signaled that they aren’t actively shopping Wiggins.

Herb Jones is another player high on the Lakers wish listespecially ahead of this year’s trade deadline. The Lakers have already held talks with the Pelicans about Jones’ availability, but they aren’t actively looking to move their defensive-minded wing either. Jones’ asking price remains very high, and he appears to be out of the Lakers’ price range in terms of assets.

The market for athletic, defensive-minded players is extremely thin this year, leaving the Lakers with little to no options to immediately improve their title chances this year. Sacramento Kings guard/winger Keon Ellis is the only other name that comes to mind, and league personnel have linked the Lakers to him in recent weeks.

Then again, what is the ultimate goal this year for the Lakers, and is this team even put together with the idea of ​​competing for a championship this year?

Outside of Doncic, James and Reaves, the Lakers don’t have adequate trade value on their roster to make the necessary adjustments they need, and several teams in the Western Conference have surpassed them in terms of making the 2026 NBA Finals.

Is it really worth sacrificing the small amount of future draft picks this organization has if there are more moves to make to get back into the championship equation? That’s the conundrum facing Pelinka and his staff over the next five weeks, as well as deciding what the future will look like for James and Reaves.

LeBron James, the future of Austin Reeves

The futures of LeBron James and Austin Reaves are the elephants in the room that no one in Los Angeles seems to want to discuss.

Both players are in the final years of their contracts before unrestricted free agency, as Reaves will opt out of his player option, and the unique positions James and Reaves are in basically have the Lakers with their hands tied behind their backs.

Starting with James, he has a full no-trade clause. Rich Paul, his best friend and agent, made it clear that there was there’s no way LeBron won’t finish the 2025-26 season in a Lakers uniform. Maybe this is all just talk, and there are plans behind the scenes for James to be traded, but that’s unlikely considering how much his camp and people close to him like to talk.

If there is no drastic change and if LeBron himself wants to leave Los Angeles immediately, which is very unlikely to happen, James will finish the season in a Lakers uniform. Even if he wanted to be traded, good luck finding a team that can handle his $52.6 million salary in three months.

From the Lakers’ perspective in this crazy scenario, there’s no way they could get anything of value in a LeBron trade because the team(s) they’d be working with would obviously know he doesn’t want to be in Los Angeles.

James is not going anywhere, and is staying with the Lakers until the end of this season.

Now Reaves, who has the highest trade value of any player on their roster. Trading Reaves is something the Lakers have steadfastly refused to discuss since last season. Many teams are interested in Reaves, and he will be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason when he declines his $14.8 million player option.

Will the Lakers be willing to break the bank for him to keep his clear No. 2 next to Doncic moving forward? Does Reeves even want to continue playing the role of “Robin” in Luke’s “Batman” for the foreseeable future? After all, Jalen Branson didn’t want to be Doncic’s replacement in Dallas anymore, and look how that turned out for him.

Reeves will command a huge free agency marketand plenty of teams will present him with offers in excess of $35 million per year in average value. Some may even be willing to go past that and give him the full max: a four-year, nearly $180 million deal that pays him about $45 million per season.

The Lakers are clearly in the driver’s seat when it comes to re-signing Reaves as they can give him a five-year, $241 million contract, just under $50 million per year. However, that means Doncic and Reaves will be tied for at least $100 million in salary, leaving the Lakers in a difficult position to build around them.

If there is a genuine fear that Reaves could sign elsewhere in free agency, the Lakers would be foolish not to explore what his trade market looks like right now. At the same time, trading Reaves likely won’t move the needle for the Lakers in terms of improvement this year, as the franchise will likely look to regain lost draft assets and possibly a young player or two on their roster.

There are pros and cons to exploring the trade market for Reaves, just as there are pros and cons to the Lakers seeing what leveraging their last few future draft picks could do to improve this team right now.

Frustrations are clearly running high in Los Angeles.

Whether Pelinka and his staff will respond to what seems like endless pleas coming from Redick, Doncic and Lakers fans is one of the biggest mysteries of this NBA trade cycle.