The NBA regular season is an 82-game marathon of attrition that tests each team's depth. The grueling schedule also tends to expose older teams that struggle to stay fresh on back-to-backs or otherwise crowded segments of the campaign. But the 2026-27 Los Angeles Lakers shouldn't have that problem.
When LA mutually parted ways with 41-year-old LeBron James in the offseason, the front office immediately got to work making the team younger. And Lakers GM Rob Pelinka did a good job of executing his vision: Every player on the squad besides Austin Reaves (28), Matisse Thybulle (29), and Kevon Looney (30) is younger than 28 years old. This is a young NBA team.
Bronny James, 21, is a notable part of the Lakers' youth movement, and it sounds like he already understands how LA's new roster could have an advantage during the grind of the regular season.
Bronny James just pointed out that the Lakers' youth will enable them to play with a ton of effort
“There’s going to be a lot of guys that can go out and give full effort and turn up the game,” Bronny said during Media Day on Monday. “We can probably play fast with how young we are.”
Bronny, Cameron Carr (21), Adou Thiero (22), Jaden Hardy (24), and Ziaire Williams (25) are all waiting to see what kind of roles (if any) they can carve out in the Lakers' rotation. But the more of this group that can earn JJ Redick's trust, the fresher LA will be during the regular season.
This should have the trickle-down effect of helping manage Reaves and Luka Doncic, so that neither player overtaxes their body before the postseason. We saw last season what happens when Doncic and Reaves log too many miles before the stretch run -- the entire year gets spoiled.
The modern NBA is becoming more and more about depth and nightly energy. There's a lot more parity in the league in the sense that, if you're not playing hard on a given night -- if you're not closing out with effort and contesting shots, if you're not penetrating the paint with energy and purpose -- you're in danger of losing, even to a much "inferior" team (talent-wise).
The team that can send waves of athletic and energetic players at their opponent's throats for 48 minutes every night becomes the team that no one wants to play. Hopefully, Redick can keep his young guys motivated to play exactly this way. Not only will this make for winning basketball, but it'll be entertaining to watch.
Lakers' young players need to grow up fast
The other side of the coin here is that the Lakers will be exposed for their inexperience in plenty of late-game scenarios this year. That's going to happen, and it's part of the growing process. It'll be up to Redick to minimize those moments the best he can and ensure that they become huge teaching points for his players.
If the Lakers lose two or three games because of youthful mistakes this season but end up winning eight or nine because of youthful energy, that's a net win. Bronny's onto something -- there might be a bit of "Showtime" in this year's Lakers with how fast they play. Will it be as refined as the magic of the 1980s? Of course not, but we're not in the '80s anymore, anyway.
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