The Lakers hope to bounce back in the second half of the season

Without necessarily impressing, Lakers however, it climbed to 5th in the Western Conference, with a winning percentage of over 60, by the time of the All-Star break.

Encouraging, but not satisfying, for a California franchise that always has lofty goals at the end of the season. Provided you manage to stay in good health, which wasn’t really the case Luka Dončić, LeBron James etc Austin Reaveswho missed 12, 18 and 26 matches in the 2025/26 season.

So, obviously, Los Angeles he only hopes once before he begins his second part of the exercise.

« Probably just health. We’ve had to deal with a lot of injuries so far, so I’d say health » indicated Luka Doncic, he returned from injury during the All-Star Game.

Confirmed by LeBron James, ineligible for year-end trophies : « Right now, the most important thing for us is to have health. I couldn’t be more clear. I don’t even know how many games we played with a full squad. We’re halfway through the season and that hasn’t happened often, that’s for sure. (…) Our success will therefore depend on our health. (…) We have to be able to go out on the field to see what we are worth, but we haven’t been able to do that this season. »

What potential for this team?

Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reeves could participate in only ten matches this season (for seven victories). An interesting assessment, which nevertheless deserves to be further tested over time.

« There is potential Luka Dončić said in this regard. ” Like I said, we have to stay healthy, but the potential is great with the three of us on the floor at the same time… »

While LeBron James, who is already starting to ” prepare for the playoffs » (his last?), doesn’t yet know what to expect about the Lakers’ potential.

« It’s hard to say because it’s a new group » he analyzed. ” We got (Deandre Ayton), Marcus (Smart) and Jake (LaRavia) back, and then we just added a new recruit a few games ago (Luke Kennard). So it’s too hard to say what we’re really capable of. What I do know, however, is that we were very good when we produced our best basketball. Conversely, we were disgusting when we were bad. So the most important thing is to see if we can stay healthy, how many minutes we can spend together on the floor, what kind of chemistry we can create at the beginning of the final sprint. We’re still hoping to have a regular season to build this cohesion, but I’m just hoping that with the injuries coming back, we can finally start to build something. »