On the surface, the Lakers are having a great start to the year.
They are 12-4 and sit as the two seed in the West, having found ways to win even with LeBron James missing significant time and Luka Dončić
and Austin Reaves also out for games here and there.
Numbers might not lie, but they can lack context. The Lakers have struggled to win against teams perceived as weaker than them, like the Jazz. The reason they’ve struggled isn’t because of defensive miscues, but it’s actually been their offense, particularly their 3-point shooting, that hasn’t been up to par.
In their road win over Utah, Los Angeles shot a woeful 28% from deep. And it wasn’t just a few attempts: the Lakers shot 38 3-pointers and converted only 10.
This wasn’t an anomaly, but instead an early-season trend for the purple and gold.
“We’re literally one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA right now,” head coach JJ Redick said after the win link. “I don’t think that’s who we are. We’ve got to make shots and we’ve got to shoot them with confidence…We got to shoot the ball better but it’s got to be a belief in each other and a belief in ourselves to knock down shots.”
Redick calling his team “one of the worst shooting teams” might sound harsh, but it’s true. LA is shooting 33.3% from deep, which ranks fifth-worst in the NBA.
Typically, when a team is that bad from 3-point range, their win-loss record reflects that. The teams surrounding the Lakers in 3-point percentage are all well below .500, but the Lakers are the exception.
“We’re taking a lot of shots that are there,” Redick said. “I don’t necessarily think we’re turning down shots. We started off the year last year really poor from 3-point [range] and then from, I think, Dec. 23 against the Pistons, we did launch drill and shootaround that morning and from then on, we were a really good shooting team.
“That took two months into the season. Hopefully, it doesn’t take that long but we have to shoot the ball better for us to be as good as we want to be.”
Perhaps Redick needs to adjust how they practice their shooting to get these guys into a rhythm. With LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, they clearly have some offensive firepower. They just need to find a way to unlock it from beyond the arc.
“We know we got guys in here that can shoot the ball,” Reaves said postgame. “Just, unfortunately, they haven’t went in yet.”
With such an early sample size, Reaves might be right. The cliche that it’s a make-or-miss league exists for a reason. Maybe this is just a poor shooting start and soon enough, it will be raining threes in Southern California.
“It won’t last,” LeBron said. “We’re not worried about it. We got too many good shooters. It won’t last…We’re getting great looks. If we were shooting bad shots and missing, then we could be worrying about, ‘Ok, how can we create better looks.’ We’re getting great looks. All of us. So, not worried about that. The numbers will average out.”
Last year, after Luka made his Lakers debut, LA shot 37.7% from 3-point range the rest of the way. That was the seventh-best percentage from beyond the arc in the NBA. So, this team does have examples they can go to that prove this might be a bump in the road they have to work through.
“Obviously, me and [Reaves] haven’t hit a shot this season,” Luka said. “I’m not worried at all. Once we start making, it’s going to be really tough to guard us.”
Momentum can change in the blink of an eye. Currently, the Lakers don’t have a good rhythm from deep, but once they find it, it’ll make them that much better. Considering they are already off to a good start record-wise, this is a way for them to get even better.
However, make no mistake. Shooting poorly from deep is a problem. And if they don’t remedy it soon, it will begin to impact their results.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
