Los Angeles Lakers Media Day tips off the hugely important 2025-26 NBA campaign for the purple and gold. This is Luka Doncic’s first full season in L.A., JJ Redick’s second and potentially LeBron James’ last, although the latter remains to be seen. But Redick, the first-time head coach, has something to prove coming off of a strong first regular season, followed by a rocky first playoff appearance.
The Lakers battled all the way to being the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, securing a three-team tiebreaker after strong showings against other top West teams. This gave them home-court advantage against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round. Many pundits picked the Lakers to advance, but they were ousted in just five games in a series that L.A. looked completely outmatched in.
Now with a few months to examine what went wrong in that series and prepare for the upcoming season, Redick was able to reflect on his biggest regret from the playoff loss, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“My biggest regret from the Minnesota series was our preparation leading into the series. There was a lot of discussion with our coaching staff and, ultimately, I had to make the decision about what that week looks like in practice. And I said this after Game 1. We weren’t physically ready to play and some of that was because of our March schedule, some of that was because of some injuries, but I’ve got to do a better job going into a series of making sure they’re physically ready to play.”
Redick also focused on a more specific regret from the series’ final game that sent the Lakers home:
“Another regret from that series, I fundamentally don’t believe in putting two on the basketball. Why are you giving the offense an advantage? Like, you’re creating an advantage. So, our foundation of our defense last year was a team defense based on shifts, based on a low man, based on elite presentation. Game 5, we started small and we blitzed Anthony Edwards, and they killed us in the first half on the offensive glass. I eventually took that off, but I didn’t put my team in a great spot because I made that decision to start Game 5.”
One thing that has made Redick popular over his first season in charge of the Lakers is his willingness and ability to adapt. He was tasked with a major midseason adjustment after the team acquired Doncic and did so very successfully. And he’s showing with these answers that he is going to make some changes this season with championship aspirations on the line.
JJ Redick believes Luka Doncic is committed to body transformation
Following a disappointing first-round performance against the Timberwolves, Luka Doncic needed to head back to the drawing board.
Not in terms of play, but his body and staying in shape through a long 82-game season. Last season, the Slovenian struggled with lower-body injuries, specifically a calf issue and did not appear to be conditioned upon his arrival in L.A.
To Doncic’s credit, he played well enough to lead the Lakers to 50 wins and secure the third seed. Now that he has completely transformed his physique, it feels like the sky is the limit.
However, the 26-year-old needs to maintain his new body and not slip back into his old ways. But JJ Redick believes his star is committed to his new lifestyle moving forward.
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