Why LA doesn’t want to copy 2 teams in an exclusive 30 year old club
The 2025-26 Los Angeles Lakers they’re in pretty exclusive company right now, and history tells us that this particular company isn’t all that great.
The Lakers enter the All-Star break, although they are 33-21 are outmatched point, which is not typical at all. In fact, LA is just the third team in NBA history with a winning percentage of 60% or higher and a negative point differential at the All-Star break.
“The other two aren’t exactly the teams the Lakers want to emulate,” wrote The Athletic’s Lav Murray. “The 2021 Portland Trail Blazers went 21-14 at the All-Star break while being outscored by 15 points and exiting the Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Denver Nuggets in six games. The 1997 Charlotte Hornets went 29-19 (.604) while getting 79 points and then getting swept in the s91 Conference Quarterfinals by the New York Knicks.
As a result of their club-best-of-three record and a stellar, league-best 15-3 record in catch time, Murray marked Lakers season “something extraordinary.”
That may be good for LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Co., although last season the Lakers fell apart in the first round of the playoffs despite a solid run after acquiring Doncic in the regular season. Still, the Lakers are almost certainly an improved team, overall, compared to the 2024-25 team, which has had more injury luck and still hasn’t been as consistent as this year’s Lakers.
Only one LA player has played in every game this year: Jake LaRavia. Additionally, he is the only player on the team to have played more than 46 games. The Lakers’ star players — James, Doncic and Austin Reaves — all missed at least a dozen games. Reaves was out for more than a month until recently, James missed almost the entire first month of the season, and Doncic remained out of the field due to a hamstring injury for the final four games before the All-Star break.
The Lakers return to action on Friday against the rival Los Angeles Clippers at home before hosting the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
2026-02-17 19:38:00
