Los Angeles Lakers
The 2024-25 Los Angeles Lakers can be defined by making the next great all-time Lakers trade but getting bounced in the first round.
What did we learn?
It started with a cup of coffee in Dallas.
Between old buddies Rob Pelinka and Nico Harrison.
That’s what led to the most shocking trade in NBA history.
Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
LukaMagic in LA.
It’s one of those moments that you will always remember where you were when the Shams bomb dropped.
It’s one of those crazy things that all these months later still barely feels real.
But it happened — Luka and LeBron shared the court together both repping the purple and gold.
We wondered how the Lakers would fare without any frontcourt depth, no true starting 5 or a real lob threat. Well, that first month they had the No. 1 defense in the league!? It’s true.
They might not have had a true starting center (apologies for Jaxson Hayes), but they did still have size and physicality across the board. And the preparation and defensive game plans were on point. Remember when they took care of business vs. their kryptonite Nuggets on primetime ABC?
That was during an 8-game winning streak and stretch of winning 18 out of 21 games. The Lakers looked legit and the thought of LeBron and Luka together in a 7-game series was all too enticing.
But the playoff jungle is all about matchups and the T-Wolves were a bad one. Minnesota was a hungrier and bigger team that bullied the Lakers.
Fives games and poof. It was over.
In his first press conference after the trade, Luka said he knows that being a Laker is all about Championships.
That didn’t happen this season. Far from it. But at least Luka knows the standard for the Lake Show and LeBron can show him the way.
LeBron at 40 years old continues to defy the odds and play unbelievably well for his age. It’s truly unfathomable. It has been for a long time now.
LeBron made 2nd team All-NBA. And on plenty of nights, he still looked like the biggest, strongest and fastest player on the court who wanted it the most.
Now it’s time for LeBron to get Luka to buy in to the year-round work and bring back Skinny Luka to destroy the league.
This season was all about getting the next great Lakers superstar.
One who knows he has everything left to prove.
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Additional Notes
From undrafted to averaging 20 points per game for the Lakers, Austin Reaves glow up has been amazing to watch over the last four years. This here blog hopes the Lakers don’t trade him. But we also realize to get a legit center, they might very well have to.
Speaking of trades, Luka was of course the big one, but bringing in Dorian Finney-Smith for D-Lo was another fantastic one.
The Dalton Knecht game. On a random Tuesday night in mid-November, Dalton Knecht hit nine threes en route to 37 points. Unfortunately, he struggled to crack the normal and consistent rotation for the majority of the season.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
You already know what it is. Over 43.5 wins.
Lakers 2024-25 record: (50-32)
Yes indeed!
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What’s Next?
Find a true starting center and lob threat.
June 29 is the deadline for LeBron to decide on this $52 million player-option for next season. It’s been pretty quiet on the Western front.
Luka is also up for an extension. Something tells us that the Lakers will want to retain him.
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Favorite Lakers Highlight of the 2024-25 Season:
11/21/24 LeBron 4.2
01/07/25 LeBron 4.1
02/19/25 LeBron 4.3
Year 21. 40 years old. Still power dunking fools out the galaxy.
