5 Lakers questions that will determine success in 2024-25 season

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The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into this season like a ship sailing into a dark, thick fog with upbeat music blaring to keep the vibes up. Everyone is saying all the right things, but there are some incredibly crucial questions facing the organization, and the answers to them will directly impact the outcome of the season.

Let’s figure out what those questions are and try to guess how things will go.

Will LeBron James and Anthony Davis continue to be an elite duo?

Let’s be one zillion percent clear here: Nothing else matters unless Anthony Davis and LeBron James manage to replicate their availability and production from a year ago. If they do that, the Lakers have a chance at a playoff spot, even in this brutal Western Conference and given the roster concerns. They’re simply too good not to give Los Angeles that kind of floor.

In year’s past, having two top-10 talents would lead to an even higher floor, but in this modern, far more competitive and intelligent NBA, the Lakers will have to scratch, fight and claw their way to a playoff berth.

According to Redick, L.A. will empower Davis to whatever extent he wants. If Davis would like to figure more seriously in end-of-season awards, Redick said he’ll make that a priority. If Davis takes that step forward and is somehow better than he was last season, while James continues to hold off Father Time, then the Lakers will have a chance at outlook-changing improvement.

All that said, if James finally does to show the effects of time or Davis isn’t ready for the extra responsibility — let alone if either get hurt — then L.A.’s chances fall off a cliff. And seeing as their pick for this season is owed to Atlanta no matter the outcome, it would be a pretty disastrous situation all the way around.

Sure, many would say that a team missing one or both of its best two players would devastate anyone, but the Lakers are especially thin compared to the rest of the league. As evidenced by the 58-point drubbing to the Golden State Warriors to finish up preseason, the back end of this roster simply cannot see the court this season.

How patient will LeBron be with Lakers riding out the clock?

Rob Pelinka sitting out this summer signaled to many around the league that the Lakers aren’t exactly focused on maximizing the end of James’ time in L.A. Losing in a gentleman’s sweep and then bringing back essentially a worse version of the same roster sends a fairly clear message to those willing to pay attention to it. All Pelinka’s comments on developing youth struck many in the league as extraordinary given the opportunity he has with James and Davis both still in their primes.

“We’d all give our left arms to have one of LeBron or AD,” a West executive told me. “They have both and can’t get them help. It’s crazy.”

Should the Lakers open slowly and once again face an uphill climb in the brutal west, how quickly will James move off his current laid-back approach to the season as his NBA mortality stares him down? Some league sources believe part of the partnership between James and the Lakers includes an unspoken agreement that he won’t make too much noise, but how long will he put up with a front office that wasn’t able to acquire a single veteran this summer?

While James has obviously taken his shots in the past, we’ve never seen him truly launch the nuclear weapons at the organization he has in the past. James might only have another season or two left in the league. If it looks like he’ll spend all that time in title irrelevancy despite his incredible availability and production at this age while Pelinka never faces much pressure from ownership to figure things out, James’ zen approach to this season won’t last.

How will JJ Redick handle the pressure of coaching LeBron, AD, Lakers?

For the second time in a row, the Lakers have entrusted a team with lofty expectations to a rookie head coach. Darvin Ham made it to the Western Conference Finals but then regressed in pretty astounding fashion. As reported before, the sense around the league is that Redick definitely seems capable of eventually figuring it out. “Eventually” doesn’t match James and Davis’ timeline, though.

Redick also has a fiery personality and has already had moments with reporters asking questions in ways he didn’t like semantically. The Lakers haven’t officially lost a game yet. What happens when they drop three of four?

Los Angeles opens the season with a pretty brutal five-game stretch. They open against the Minnesota Timberwolves, play the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings at home, then hit the road for Phoenix and a bout in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, who are considered a dark horse by many to make some real noise in the East.

The way he talks to reporters doesn’t really matter (but is ironic given how easily he criticized coaches as an analyst), but Redick has said he’ll need to manage his own expectations because of how hard he can be on himself. Given all the noise that always surrounds the franchise, he’ll be constantly tested in this regard.

Frankly, the Lakers can’t afford the typical learning curve seen from rookie head coaches, and Redick isn’t the typical rookie head coach. How everyone manages that situation is going to be fascinating to watch.

Will Redick find a way to make D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves a reliable postseason combination?

For more than a year, the Lakers have acknowledged internally that the Reaves and Russell tandem is too deficient on the defensive end to thrive in postseason play. It’s why Russell has been on the trade block for two consecutive offseasons and last year’s trade deadline. Sources close to the situation and throughout the league have made it abundantly clear that Russell is still very much on the trade block and will remain there until he’s moved or Los Angeles find a way to better trust him and Reaves together in the postseason.

The answer to this question, if Pelinka remains unable to find a trade partner, might be to split them up. Max Christie had a fantastic preseason and training camp. According to a source, the Lakers are very aware of his steps forward as a 3-and-D shooting guard who would fit very well next to either Russell or Reaves in that starting group.

Redick announced before training camp that he would stick with the starters that went 23-8 together last season (Russell, Reaves, James, Davis and Rui Hachimura). That said, he did get a couple looks at Christie with the starters and had to like what he saw.

Dalton Knecht also had a stellar preseason, highlighted by that incredible stretch in which he scored 20 straight points against Phoenix. When this front office drafted him, they envisioned an older prospect who could help right away. Based on what we saw from him this last month or so, that appears to be the case.

Redick could essentially pair one of Russell and Reaves with one of Christie or Knecht with the starting group and let the other pair handle the bench minutes. If Russell accepts a bench role, his playoff miscues are far less daunting. Issue there is: As L.A. tried to trade him now for a couple years running and have already traded him once, it’s pretty difficult to ask Russell to take one for the team here.

So, either the Lakers finally trade Russell somewhere, he and Reaves somehow improve defensively, or Redick tweaks the rotation to make up for those defensive issues. The path the Lakers take here and whether it works will directly impact their ceiling and floor this season.

Will Rob Pelinka pull the trigger on an impact move?

The more people you talk to close to the Lakers, the clearer it becomes that everyone has become incredibly cautious to make any move whatsoever because of how poorly the Russell Westbrook trade went. Pelinka especially has become super conservative now that James has stepped back from any role having to do with personnel movement.

If there isn’t absolute consensus between Pelinka, Jeanie Buss, Kurt and Linda Rambis and Tim Harris, the move isn’t made. This is why it took so long to finally fire Ham after the season and then eventually hire Redick. It’s also why Los Angeles didn’t trade for anyone at last year’s deadline or acquire a veteran this summer.

An organization looking to compete the way the Lakers are expected to simply cannot operate this way. At some point, Pelinka is going to have to be willing to make a decision that may risk his employment, or Buss will have to find someone who is.

For now, Pelinka isn’t going anywhere, but he is working this season to earn an extension next summer. He has only this and next year left on his contract. L.A. not landing any veteran whatsoever this offseason was shocking to watch. As currently constructed (and especially given the injuries already incurred), this roster isn’t good enough to complete for a championship.

Internally, sources acknowledge this roster needs to be improved. The Lakers haven’t surrounded James and Davis with championship talent since make that infamous Westbrook trade. They’ve upheld their end of the bargain by maintain an elite level of play. The Lakers owe it to them to buck that trend.

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