Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts after taking an elbow from Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Lakers Insider Provides Alarming Postseason Outlook

Originally posted on Los Angeles Lakers on SI
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 1:30 PM ET

The 50-32 Los Angeles Lakers started off their postseason in alarming fashion on Saturday, when they fell 117-95 to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.

On Tuesday, L.A. will have an opportunity to right the ship, but one insider reveals that NBA front offices are convinced that the Lakers may not be quite as awesome as their record and Western Conference playoff seed (they're No. 3, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets) suggests.

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In the latest episode of his podcast "Buha's Block," Jovan Buha of The Athletic revealed that there was a belief around the league that the Lakers had been "getting lucky with shot variance."

The long-term problem for Los Angeles was that, at some point, the shots opposing players were missing against L.A. would likely start to fall sooner or later, and that regression would spell trouble for the Lakers.

That certainly started happening in the aforementioned devastating Game 1 of L.A.'s playoff series against the Timberwolves, in which Minnesota converted a whopping 51.2 percent of its field goal attempts (44-of-86) and an insane 50 percent of its 3-point looks (21-of-42).

All-Defensive Team Minnesota wing Jaden McDaniels may not have a hyper-efficient shooting night to the level he did on Saturday, again, however. He scored 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the floor, which in itself feels a bit fluky. 2024 Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid scored 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 1-of-2 shooting from long range.

Although the Lakers did make a respectable 15-of-41 of their looks from distance (36.6 percent), they made just 33-of-83 from the floor overall.

Five-time All-NBA First Team superstar guard Luka Doncic did score 37 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the floor (5-of-10 from deep) and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line, but only one of his teammates who's actually in JJ Redick's rotation connected on more than 38.5 percent of his field goals. 21-time All-Star power forward LeBron James went 8-of-18 from the floor, good for 44.4 percent shooting.

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The fact that guard Austin Reaves made just 38.5 percent of his field goal tries and forward Rui Hachimura connected on just a third of his minimal nine tries is a bit ominous.

Ultimately, the criticism Buha mentions points more to the Lakers' defensive issues. Doncic and Reaves are too talented on offense to be sat for long, but their defensive faults are coming to light.

More Los Angeles Lakers News:

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For the latest Los Angeles Lakers news and notes, stay glued to Los Angeles Lakers On SI.

This article first appeared on FanNation All Lakers and was syndicated with permission.

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