The Lakers have an identity crisis 

Los Angeles, CA (News4UsOnline) – Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick admitted his team don’t know who they are. Lately, the Lakers have played like it.

After a super-hot start to their season, the Lakers have cooled. The Lakers have lost four of their last five games. They are in fifth place in the NBA’s Western Conference.   

Two nights before the New Year, the Detroit Pistons gave the Lakers a dose of what the best team in the Eastern Conference looks like, routing Los Angeles on their own home floor. 

The Pistons blew open the nonconference game with a 32-18 fourth quarter to come away with a 125-08 win. So, a game after beating up the hapless Sacramento Kings, the Lakers got it handed to them in a way that said Detroit didn’t care one iota if it was LeBron James’ 41st birthday. 

Discovering Who They Are    

So, who are these Lakers? One game, the Lakers can look like world beaters. The next game they might resemble a team that doesn’t know who they are. After the Pistons’ loss, Redick said his team is still search of its identity.

“?Still trying to figure that out, and I know that’s maybe a cop out, probably is, but I do know that we have had a lot of stops and starts, and we’ve tried to, not just the staff,” Redick said. 

“I’m saying our team, the players have, everybody. We’ve really tried to play the right way every night and have the right intent. The flow of lineups and rotations and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches,” Redick went on to say. 

The defeat the Lakers suffered to the Pistons can be attributed to a couple of things, and it exposed LA in areas where they are lacking productivity. Detroit simply dominated the action down low, scoring 74 points in the paint. 

In comparison, the Lakers scored just 44 points. The second point differential came on the fastbreak. Detroit outscored the Lakers 31-12 in fastbreak points. 

According to James, that was the biggest difference in the ballgame. 

“Points off turnovers and fast break points,” remarked James. “We had a lot of pick-sixes tonight and allowed them to get out. They are a fast, explosive team with a lot of athleticism. We kind of knew that coming into the game, but we didn’t short that point.”

Nine players contributed to the Pistons’ scoring assault in the final period. Cade Cunningham, who scored a team-high 27 points for Detroit, said the Pistons outran the Lakers in the final period. 

“Just getting stops and continue to push in transition. That was the name of the game for us. I think that was what allowed us to get out ahead early on. Then, just towards the end trying to close it out, having to get stops, having to rebound the ball and then get out and run.”

Flipping the Switch

The Lakers used that philosophy to beat the Kings prior to their contest against the Pistons. It did not take long for the  Lakers to dispatch the Kings. A 15-point differential turned into a 125-101 win for the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. 

Where was all this energy in the team’s recent three defeats, all blowout losses, against the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets?

It’s hard to say, but wherever it was, Redick got it back on track, at least for one game, with a hard-nosed critique of his team following a one-sided, 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day.  

“We played together; we played for each other,” Redick said. “We had, probably, one of our most consistent games in terms of 48 minutes of just competitive spirit. [There were] a couple of possessions there towards the end of the third that we tried to be the Harlem Globetrotters, but this is the first game we’ve won all year, or first game we’ve had all year, obviously we obviously win, but first game we’ve had all year that we’ve won all four quarters.”

Luka Doncic poured in 34 points, while an efficient LeBron James totaled 24 points to lead the Lakers to their 20th win of the season. Sacramento dropped to 8-24. The Lakers got out on top early and stayed there throughout the game.

Redick talked about what he liked about his ballclub’s performance against Sacramento. That has to be taken with a grain of salt with the Kings having the second worst record in the Western Conference of the NBA. 

“Overall, it was just consistent basketball for 48 minutes,” Redick said. 

The Lakers outscored the outmanned Kings by six points in the first quarter before opening things up to a 15-point advantage at halftime, thanks to 38-point second period. The Lakers then outscored the Kings 31-27 in the third quarter to extend their lead and keep the visitors at bay. 

“I just think the coaching staff gave us a game plan, and we just tried to execute that,” Lakers forward LeBron James said. “I thought we had a great shootaround this morning preparing for Sac and we executed that for 48 minutes.” 

James scored 10 of his 24 points in the first quarter as the Lakers rolled out to a 30-24 lead. Doncic followed up James’ opening stanza with a 15-point scoring surge in the second quarter. 

Following successive blowout losses to the Clippers, Suns and Rockets, Redick challenged his team. Doncic believes he and his teammates accepted the message delivered by their head coach in a good way with the way they played against the Kings.   

“Oh, very well,” Doncic remarked. “I think our effort was very high starting the game like that; getting deflections, getting steals and being physical. We talked about [that] a lot in the group just between us. I think we all responded well.”

Apparently, the Lakers still have not learned that lesson. 

“I think we just let off on the rope a little bit,” said Lakers forward/guard Luka Doncic following the team’s loss to Detroit. “Like I said, I think we played good basketball for three quarters, physical basketball and then we just kind of let go of the rope.”

Cover Photo: Los Angeles, CA – LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball up the court against the Sacramento Kings during an NBA game played at Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 28, 2025. Photo credit: Dennis J. Freeman / News4UsOnline