Preseason results are thoroughly meaningless. With players shuffling in and out of the lineup as everyone ramps up for the regular season, it’s hard to place too much emphasis on the wins and losses.
Instead, it’s all about the process and if the team is doing the right things in the minutes the starters and regular rotation players are on the floor together. And in those moment, head coach JJ Redick is pleased with what the Lakers have been able to do.
“I like where we’re at,” Redick said after Thursday’s
win over the Kings. “I think getting a bunch of guys more than like that 20 to 21 minutes is good for live play. Again, we’ll look to continue to build up, in terms of playing time, for a lot of these guys over the next two games. Would love to get some news on some people in the next few days and be able to see what we look like at full strength in at least one of these games and just build that rhythm with each other.”
Against Sacramento this preseason, the Lakers have looked great. The offense has featured lots of 3-pointers and impressive moments from Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. Defensively, the performance of the team’s wings as part of a new identity on that end of the floor has been one of the big standouts.
The exception in the middle of that was the loss to the Warriors in which the Lakers rested a lot of players. It’s easy to overlook, especially since the team looked great in the other two contests.
One of those aforementioned wing standouts has been Jake LaRavia. After fading into the background as the season progressed last season, LaRavia has looked as good as ever this preseason. He, too, feels the team is in a good spot through the first week of exhibition games.
“I said after the game, I think we’re just playing really good basketball on both sides of the ball,” LaRavia said. “Obviously we’re going to make mistakes and things are going to look sloppy at times, but I think, for the most part, our chemistry is really good right now on both sides. I think we’re doing a good job communicating to each other, helping each other out and just having fun together.”
Playing well in Week 1 of the preseason means little if it doesn’t translate to the games that matter. But it’s been a very encouraging start to a new era of Lakers basketball.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
