The Lakers charge into the playoffs

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – When the Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2024-25 NBA season, there was some uncertainty about how things would play out for the storied franchise.

Darvin Ham, who had guided the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals just two seasons ago, was out the door. 

The Lakers, in the middle of doing a major public relations job after UConn Dan Hurley turned down the gig of being the team’s next head coach, were in a flux. They turned to former NBA star turned podcaster JJ Redick to show them the way.   

Redick has found his way. So have the Lakers. A stunning trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks for forward Luka Doncic didn’t hurt. The trade for Doncic just may be the move to push the Lakers deep into the postseason. 

And then there’s the timeless vessel the Lakers have at their disposal, who happens to go by the name of LeBron James. These ingredients, including a patch of young players looking to make a name for themselves, have recharged the Lakers into a team that has positioned itself into the No. 3 seed in Western Conference final standings. 

That’s a pretty big deal if you ask Doncic. 

“Very important,” Doncic said. “ It’s going to be my first time having home-court advantage, so I’m really excited about it. That was our goal. Looking back maybe five or six games, our goal was to lock up the third seed.”

The Lakers finished the regular season with a record of 50-32 and ended the year with a 36-16 mark against teams in the Western Conference. Now they have their eyes set on the NBA playoffs, where James is hoping he can grab title No. 5. 

After crushing the Houston Rockets, the No. 2 team in the Western Conference, in their final home game of the regular season, he gave credit for the team’s success to his players. 

“I’m just incredibly proud of our team,” Redick said after the Houston win. “It’s an accomplishment to win 50 games in the regular season in any year. I think particularly this year, in this Western Conference, it is, and it’s a credit to our players. Each one at different points in time, has contributed to winning. They’ve all participated in a winning culture. Our coaching staff, our performance staff, everybody down the line, it’s a great group to be a part of.”  

While the mission is not complete, for the Lakers to attain the success they had in the regular season, things had to align in LA’s favor. For one, the burden of managing two superstars fell on the shoulders of Redick, the Lakers first-year leader. 

He also had to bring a buy-in message for the whole team to soak in. To say that Redick and the Lakers exceeded expectations would be an understatement. However, any time you have two of the best players in the NBA on the same side, good things are bound to happen. 

Doncic coming to the Lakers has been a perfect gift for the purple and gold, the kind of present that can make or break a team’s title chances. The odds of the Lakers reaching the conference finals before Doncic were here, but they’ve improved tremendously since that trade was made midway into the season.

Even with the flexing power of James, the cool-hand shooting of Doncic, the Lakers still had to have contributions from other members of the team to put them in this position. One of those standouts has been guard Austin Reaves. 

Reaves is pumped about his team’s postseason chances. 

“Playoff time is all about executing and paying attention to the details,” Reaves said. “You can win by the smallest margin, or you can lose by couple mess ups. So, you have to be sharp every single possession. You obviously know you’re not going to be perfect, but any time you strive to be perfect, the better your team’s going to be. So just taking that into the postseason is very important for us.”

In a 119-117 defeat to the Chicago Bulls back in March, James talked about the team’s mentality at the end of the season. 

“Obviously we can’t take for granted the moments we get out there and are able to play the game that we love and play it at a high level,” James remarked. “So just holding each other accountable, pouring into the team [and] pouring energy into the team. That’s what’s most important.”