The Los Angeles Lakers have plenty to be wary of when they look around the Western Conference, particularly out in Oklahoma City or San Antonio. Be that as it may, the Lakers can't overwhelm themselves by looking ahead to the postseason or imagining exterior challenges to come, especially when they have plenty of in-house things to improve upon over the course of 82 games.
The new-look roster in LA is the most cohesive, best-fitting group of JJ Redick's tenure, according to the man himself. Even so, there are two glaring issues with this roster entering the regular season that could cause LA to lose some games it should otherwise win. Let's run through both of them.
2 big issues facing the Lakers' roster heading into the 2026-27 season
1. Rebounding when Walker Kessler is on the bench
The Lakers' $130 million man looked the part in his limited preseason minutes. But what happens to the Lakers' rebounding outlook when Kessler is resting? Not a lot of good things, is the answer.
Backup center Kevon Looney is a serviceable vet, but he's stuck to the floor and limited against bigger, more athletic fives when it comes to battling on the glass.
Beyond Looney, the Lakers don't have another true center to throw out there. They'll be relying on Sandro Mamukelavshili to moonlight as a five at times, and they'll be praying that their "bigger" wings like Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle can help on the boards (neither player is a beacon of physical strength by NBA standards ... hence the problem).
2. Ball-handling beyond Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves
Is Collin Sexton ready to go? Why didn't he play at all during preseason? We'll trust the Lakers' medical team with those questions, of course, and Sexton figures to be LA's third trustworthy ball-handler/initiator behind Doncic and Reaves.
But if Sexton suffers from further injuries, or if Doncic/Reaves miss time (aren't they bound to, even if for rest alone?), the Lakers truly don't have enough ball-handling on their squad to ensure that they get into their offense fluidly and weather the storm of opposing pressure on a nightly basis in the NBA.
Bronny James is unfortunately still a year (or more?) away from being serviceable as an NBA point guard off the bench. It feels like the Lakers were banking on Bronny being ready from the get-go of this season, but that assumption might now have them in trouble. Who knows ... maybe we'll see the underrated ball-handler Mamukelashvili playing some point forward. Things could get wacky and creative, depending on how weird Redick is willing to get.
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