JJ on a couple of Lakers players
Realistic Offseason — 49,500,000 Luka Doncic
12,428,571 Jarred Vanderbilt
8,104,000 Deandre Ayton
6,000,000 Jake LaRavia
4,201,080 Dalton Knecht
2,296,271 Bronny James
2,150,917 Adou Thiero
6,800,000 Incomplete Roster Charge (1.36 x 5)
\-
Payroll: 91,480,839
Cap Hold: 20,906,361 Austin Reaves
Total: 112,387,200
Salary Cap: 165,000,000
Cap Space: 52,612,800
\-
Signing:
25,000,000 LeBron James (27,612,800)
15,000,000 Marcus Smart (12,612,800)
12,600,000 Luke Kennard
9,425,000 Rui Hachimura (Room Exce
JJ Redick on Deandre Ayton 💀
Evidently, crunk juice does not improve your ability to catch
Deandre Ayton tonight: 3/3/0/0/1 on 1/4 shooting in 23 minutes (-26) — https://global.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401811010
Only 4 shot attempts, but also had one trip to the freethrow line (went 1/2) and added in 1 turnover and 2 personal fouls
-26 was tied for the second-worst on the team, with Bronny at -27
[Murray] JJ Redick on Deandre Ayton: "He hasn't been able to catch the ball"
[Post Game Thread] The Oklahoma City Thunder (62-16) demolish the South Bay Lakers (50-28), 123-87. — ||
|:-:|
|[](/OKC) **123 - 85** [](/LAL)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/OKC-vs-LAL-0022501155/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Crypto.com Arena|
|**Officials:** Pat Fraher, Justin Van Duyne, and Ashley Moyer-Gleich|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Oklahoma City Thunder|34|31|28|30|123|
|Los Angeles Lakers|27|20|15|23|85|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM ST
Lakers starting lineup tonight vs. OKC: Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura, Drew Timme and Deandre Ayton — The Lakeshow is not looking like the usual programming this time. JJ Redick is experimenting with what he has, to try and find an effective rotation, in the face of the league leading Oklahoma City Thunder. I for one am excited to see some Bronny James content tonight.
Source: https://www.espn.co.uk/nba/game/\_/gameId/401811010/thunder-lakers
[Buha] Lakers’ starters vs. OKC: Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura, Drew Timme, Deandre Ayton
[Panerio] Cowherd: "Lakers are a sports car, and their answer for everything is more power. Handling—don’t worry about it. Aerodynamics—somebody else’s problem. Braking, tires—eh, somebody else can worry about it. Let’s give us more horsepower... And that’s been Rob Pelinka’s answer to everything.” — ​
“This was the inevitable conclusion,” Colin stressed.
“JJ Redick inherited a completely lopsided roster. He should be up for Coach of the Year. They have no bench. They can’t shoot threes. They can’t rebound. They’ve got no rim protector. They lack ‘3-and-D’ guys in a ‘3-and-D’ league,” the veteran pundit added.
For context, Luka played 35.8 minutes a game, which actually isn’t outrageous for a player of his caliber. However, his usage rate of 38.6—which is a career-high—essentially
This team should be enough to win at least 2 of the last 4 games. — With Jake, Hayes, Vando, and Kleber off the bench, we should win at least 2 of the GSW, PHO, and JAZZ matchups.
We just need the Nuggets to lose their games against SAS and OKC, and we'll finish at 3rd seed.
[Highlight] Luke Kennard lobs it to Deandre Ayton for the alley-oop layup, giving Kennard his first career triple-double, with 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter (with a replay).
10 Points, 10 Rebounds, 10 Assists, and with plenty of times remaining in the game.
[Highlights] LeBron James intercepts the pass, and finishes with the alley-oop dunk off a give and go with Luke Kennard, then finds Deandre Ayton for the hook shot, and then finds Ayton with a beautiful touch pass for the easy 2
[Highlights] Rui Hachimura hits the turnaround jumper, Deandre Ayton with the spikes block on P.J. Washington, and Hachimura hits the corner 3
I created a stat to show how much players flop. — I created a stat showing how much the top 100 scorers this season in the NBA flop. (Or to be specific, it shows how many of their shot attempts of each type end in free throws; those free throws drawn may be legitimate.) I'm calling it the Foul Line Optimization Proficiency Score, or FLOP Score for short.
The stat takes their free throws attempted and divides it by a weighted average of their 2 pointers and 3 pointers attempted, based on how many 2pt and 3pt fouls there were in the NBA this sea
The improbable source of hope to close the season. — Ok folks, it is going to sound laughable and I have to admit I gave up on that player a long time ago, but desperate times require desperate measures and without Luka a top 3 player in the league, without Austin that is our second leading scorer and LeBron James being 41, we desperately need to seek for hope on improbable places.
I've seen folks talking about Ayton (the most reasonable source of production), Bronny a sophomore kid that is getting better and even Hayes, a player that is transiti
ARE YOU STILL A FAN, WHEN SHIT HITS THE FAN — There sending out a 41 year old LeBron to go to battle with Deandre Ayton as his number 2 I’m in tears this might be the season he malfunctions, Ay 2018 Bron never had family on his team so be warn Mr. silver we coming for ring 5
41 year old Lebron James will be the Lakers number one option in the postseason — With both Luka and Austin reaves injuries, Lebron James will be the first option in the postseason against most likely the Timberwolves or Rockets. Bronny James will also most likely be the starting pg or at least be getting 20 minutes of playing time. Rui Hachimura or Deandre Ayton will then be the second option most likely
Going into the playoffs with Deandre Ayton and LeBron as our first and second options...
If the season ends today, Lakers finish with a #8 offense. Luka Doncic so far in his career has not led a top 5 offense without Jalen Brunson on his team. — Thought this was always interesting when it came to discussions around Luka. Despite his scoring and assist numbers, Luka Doncic has never led a top 5 offense without Jalen Brunson on his team. To be fair to him, he plays with DeAndre Ayton.
Cap experts can you explain how much cap space will we have next season? I know that Austin reaves will have a 20m cap hold. So if we don’t re-sign Rui Kleber and keep Kennard at a similar contract will we have around 70m in cap space?
Both Lakers centers have combined for 0 rebounds during the first half vs the Thunder — Deandre Ayton 12 mins 0 rebounds
Jaxson Hayes 11 mins 0 rebounds
I honestly dont remember the last time this has happened, how can two centers play a combined 23 mins without grabbing a board?
Thunder haven't been missing much but still have offensive rebounded exactly one third of their misses.
Leaders in FG% within 5 feet of the rim (Min 200 attempts). 3 Lakers in the top 5 and 5 in the top 20. Only Cleveland with 2 has more than 1 player in the top 20.
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (49-26) defeat the Washington Wizards (17-58), 120-101. —
||
|:-:|
|[](/WAS) **101 - 120** [](/LAL)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/WAS-vs-LAL-0022501098/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Crypto.com Arena|
|**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Josh Tiven, and Pat O'Connell|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Washington Wizards|26|18|33|24|101|
|Los Angeles Lakers|25|40|26|29|120|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (49-26) defeat the Washington Wizards (17-58), 120-101. — ||
|:-:|
|[](/WAS) **101 - 120** [](/LAL)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/WAS-vs-LAL-0022501098/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Crypto.com Arena|
|**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Josh Tiven, and Pat O'Connell|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Washington Wizards|26|18|33|24|101|
|Los Angeles Lakers|25|40|26|29|120|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**T
Deandre Ayton, Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes speak on the defensive intensity after practice: 3/29/26
How Injuries Have Impacted The Top 4 MVP Candidates' Teams — With team record and on-off data being a large part of the 2025-26 MVP discussion, it's worthwhile to understand the health of each MVP's supporting cast, as teammate health has a large effect on both of those statistics. These lists show each team's top 7 players (besides the MVP candidates) numbers of games missed, with the top 7 teammates being chosen using DunksandThree's EPM model to determine the "best" 7 teammates. This was done to avoid having unproven or relatively unimportant players l
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (47-26) defeat the Brooklyn Nets (17-56), 116-99 behind Lukas 41 point performance — ||
|:-:|
|[](/BKN) **99 - 116** [](/LAL)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/BKN-vs-LAL-0022501075/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Crypto.com Arena|
|**Officials:** Sean Wright, Brian Forte, and JD Ralls|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Brooklyn Nets|30|29|25|15|99|
|Los Angeles Lakers|35|26|24|31|116|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**Team**|**PTS
Spurs are +26.3 when Victor Wembanyama is on the court since ASB — That's by far the best in the league (min 200 minutes). It’s a historic number and simply quantifies what everyone sees when watching Victor Wembanyama. Across every catch-all metric out there, his defensive impact is in the 100th percentile and he's in the 90-98th percentile on offense depending on which one you look at.
[Plus Minus per 100 possessions & Minutes Played: woah... someone is not human](https://preview.redd.it/6bu9sxbjvjrg1.png?width=852&format=png&auto=webp&s=8321295e2f47150bef7e
Luka questionable tomorrow vs the Nets
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (47-26) defeat the Indiana Pacers (16-57), 137-130. — ||
|:-:|
|[](/LAL) **137 - 130** [](/IND)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-IND-0022501052/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Gainbridge Fieldhouse|
|**Officials:** Eric Dalen, Ben Taylor, and Evan Scott|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Los Angeles Lakers|45|30|30|32|137|
|Indiana Pacers|28|31|26|45|130|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**Team
[Post Game Thread] The Detroit Pistons (52-19) hold back the Los Angeles Lakers (46-26), 113-110. —
||
|:-:|
|[](/LAL) **110 - 113** [](/DET)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-DET-0022501038/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Little Caesars Arena|
|**Officials:** John Goble, Scott Twardoski, and Natalie Sago|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Los Angeles Lakers|27|25|35|23|110|
|Detroit Pistons|23|42|24|24|113|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
[Murray] In addition to the rescinded techs, the NBA ruled that three calls that benefitted the Lakers was incorrect, including two 3 defensive 3 seconds violations on Deandre Ayton that were non-calls and the Tristan da Silva foul on Ayton, who split the FTs. Lakers 105, Magic 104 — Last two minute report:
Ayton *should* have been called for a 3-second defensive tech at 1:22
Ayton *should* have been called for a 3-second defensive tech at 0:25
Da Silva *should not* have been called for a shooting foul at 0:05
Also: "Replay review of the out of bounds called on Banchero (ORL) pursuant to a coach's challenge was deemed unsuccessful. The Replay Center was able to confirm that the ball touched both players, but there was no clear and conclusive evidence that the last point
9-4 record with this starting five. How are we feeling about this starting lineup?
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (45-25) defeat the Orlando Magic (38-31), 105-104. —
||
|:-:|
|[](/LAL) **105 - 104** [](/ORL)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-ORL-0022501024/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Kia Center|
|**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Marc Davis, and Marat Kogut|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Los Angeles Lakers|37|25|20|23|105|
|Orlando Magic|30|35|22|17|104|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**Team**|**PTS*
Orlando is on a 3-game losing streak and after being torched two Alexanders for 40 points, I'm going to check the Lakers roster for any other Alexanders just to be safe. — Charlotte dropped a ton of threes on our head, but they've been doing for three months now, so no Alexanders needed for that. Lakers are on a roll though, so they may not need an Alexander for this game. This honestly feels like a "Where's Austin?" game since LeBron and Luka have both been having a great week.
---
**LeBron Raymone James** - Nope (Safe; We know everything about LeBron now, so not much to report. But, did you know he loves dino nuggies? You didn't? It's because I made it up)
Best defensive 5-man lineup in the NBA this season (min. 100 minutes): Marcus Smart, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton, and Rui Hachimura
THE LAKERS ARE 2-0 SINCE DEANDRE AYTON LOOK INTO THE MIRROR.
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (44-25) defeat the Miami Heat (38-31), 134-126. — ||
|:-:|
|[](/LAL) **134 - 126** [](/MIA)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-MIA-0022501010/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Kaseya Center|
|**Officials:** Derrick Collins, Courtney Kirkland, and Mark Lindsay|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Los Angeles Lakers|29|30|38|37|134|
|Miami Heat|42|23|23|38|126|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**Te
Deandre Ayton buying into a role might actually save his career... and a chance to win a ring — It’s honestly refreshing to see Deandre Ayton start to accept where he’s at right now.
People clown him for the “I’m still the guy” mindset after how things ended with the Phoenix Suns and that underwhelming run with the Portland Trail Blazers, but I actually think that mentality took guts. When you’re a No. 1 pick, that belief doesn’t just go away overnight—it’s part of who you are.
The Clint Capela comparison clearly hit a nerve, and yeah, it came off like denial at first. But the recent “I
[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (44-25) defeat the Houston Rockets (41-27), 124-116 to continue their win streak to 7. — ||
|:-:|
|[](/LAL) **124 - 116** [](/HOU)|
|**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-HOU-0022501007/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**GAME SUMMARY**|
|**Location:** Toyota Center|
|**Officials:** Sean Wright, Brent Barnaky, and Mousa Dagher|
|**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**|
|:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|
|Los Angeles Lakers|35|32|22|35|124|
|Houston Rockets|26|29|37|24|116|
||
|:-:|
| |
|**TEAM STATS**|
|**Team*
How do you feel about this?
Deandre Ayton says he’s ‘110 percent’ bought in with Lakers after looking in the mirror — Sometime after Deandre Ayton exited the Los Angeles Lakers’ road loss to the Denver Nuggets, the 2018 No. 1 pick made a decision.
No longer, he thought, would he be a weight lagging behind his team. No longer would he worry about anything other than impacting winning. And no longer would he take for granted the opportunity to play meaningful basketball.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7127470/2026/03/18/deandre-ayton-lakers-nba/?source=athletic\_user\_shared\_article\_copylink&smid=url-share-
The Athletic: Deandre Ayton says he’s ‘110 percent’ bought in with Lakers after looking in the mirror (Full Free Article by Dan Woike)
[Woike] Deandre Ayton says he finally realized that he’s not that guy. “I just started looking in the mirror and said ‘Yo bro, … you’re not that guy. You don’t need to be on this team doing that at all. This team, you came here to be the effort guy and close out possessions, rebound, run the floor.” — Source: [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7127470/2026/03/18/deandre-ayton-lakers-nba/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7127470/2026/03/18/deandre-ayton-lakers-nba/)
HOUSTON — Sometime after Deandre Ayton exited the Los Angeles Lakers’ road loss to the Denver Nuggets, the 2018 No. 1 pick made a decision.
No longer, he thought, would he be a weight lagging behind his team. No longer would he worry about anything other than impacting winning. And no longer would he take for granted the opportun
Deandre Ayton says he finally realized that he’s not that guy. “I just started looking in the mirror and said ‘Yo bro,… you’re not that guy. You don’t need to be on this team doing that at all. This team, you came here to be the effort guy.’” (Via @DanWoikeSports / h/t @TheNBABase )
Deandre "Not Clint Capela" Ayton facing Capela tonight: 7 PTS, 11 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK on 3/6 shooting — Since Ayton's viral comment that "he is not Clint Capela", tonight he faces Capela and ended up with 7 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810844
[Lowlight] DeAndre Ayton bats Luka's pass outside the arc, where Reaves puts up an airball
[Highlight] Deandre Ayton lockdown defense on Tari Eason
With Sengun out today (Back), Clint Capela will start vs Lakers. He will match up with Deandre Ayton — An all time matchup to determine who is the best Clint Capela.
Sengun out - https://www.rotowire.com/basketball/player/alperen-sengun-5404
Lakers Fam. How are we feeling about Rockets matchup tomorrow? — Rebounding will be heavily tested as Rockets are ranked number 1 in the league averaging 48.2 REB per game. Whereas the Lakers are ranked 27th with 41.1 REB per game.
Also this is the first time Deandre Ayton will be going up against Clint Capela for the first time since the “I’m not no Clint Capela” comment.
How are we feeling?
Luka has had the best defensive in/off rating in the team since his last tech — \-38.8 diff, that’s just insane. 105.2 defensive rating.
Him running down on defense instead of arguing with the refs makes a massive difference.
He’s actually not a bad defender when he stops giving up easy points in transition.
Appreciation for DeAndre Ayton's clutch block!
Best Lakers game of the season — Amazing show play from the whole Lakers cast in a phenomenal effort against the Nuggets. Deandre Ayton played a great defensive OT and game, insane effort and defensive hustle from Lebron, unreal clutch to tie it by Austin and a game winner to seal it from Luka. THIS TEAM WITH THIS EFFORT CAN MAKE A DEEP PLAYOFF RUN!
DA You Dog! — Say what you will about DeAndre ayton, he would suck for a couple of games out of nowhere. But tonight he has truly redeemed himself, actually for last couple of games. He's been playing really great, I was a little bit surprised why he wasn't in the game, but he was there for the most important bit.
what a tremendous defence on Jokic at the end of the. Kudos to you DA. 🥳
Ps: very surprised Jamal Murray did not become Michael Jordan today. 🤣
DeAndre Ayton in the FT line in his past 5-6 games
Early Predictions for which Laker Free Agents will be Re-Signed: AR 200M/5yr, MS 20M/2yr, DA 20 M/2yr, LK 33M/3yr, JH 12M/2yr — Seems like a slow afternoon on the board as we all await the big game, so here are some early predictions for L.A.'s free agent signings this summer:
.
**(1) Austin Reaves -- 5 years, 200M**
.
Starting from a salary of **36.1M** in 2026-2027 and with 8% annual raises ending at 46.4M in 2030-2031.
.
I think this deal will be leaked to the media soon after the playoffs end (before agency actually starts when teams can only negotiate with their own free agents).
.
I predict that the
Meet Josh, Eric and Alejandro: Deandre Ayton plays several different characters thanks, in part, to the Green Goblin — Ayton may have a sort of personality disorder, which could be affecting his consistency with performance. Honestly this would explain so much
Lakers Starters combined for 137 of the team's 142 points in today's victory over Chicago
Today's starters: Hachimura, James, Ayton, Reaves, Doncic