The Los Angeles Lakers have officially reached the midway point of the 2024-25 regular season. In many respects, first-year head coach JJ Redick and the Lakers have far exceeded expectations, sitting five games clear of .500 and setting the pace for a postseason appearance.
The fact that should have Lakers fans excited about what's to come, however, is the intriguing reality that the team has finally bucked the trend of starting slow.
Los Angeles hit the midway point of the 2024-25 regular season at 23-18. It's a full game ahead of the No. 7 seed Dallas Mavericks, which has positioned the Lakers to avoid the Play-In Tournament for the first time since it was introduced in 2020-21.
Los Angeles is also 0.5 games back of the No. 5 seed Denver Nuggets and a manageable 4.5 games behind the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets.
In addition to having a realistic opportunity to secure home-court advantage, the Lakers are in a significantly better place than they were at this point in 2023-24. A season ago, the purple and gold were fighting from behind, desperately hoping to string together wins and finish above .500.
After entering the second half of the 2023-24 season at 20-21, however, the Lakers have found a path to improvement and will now tackle the rest of the campaign starting at 23-18.
2024-25 Lakers are 23-18 at midway point after going 20-21 in 2023-24
The three-win improvement is nothing to scoff at, as the Lakers have set the pace for a 46-36 record. The obvious retort would be that Los Angeles finished the 2023-24 regular season at 47-35, but it was on pace to go 40-42 after 41 games.
It went 27-14 the rest of the way—a record that, if emulated, would give the current Lakers squad its first 50-win season since 2019-20.
2019-20, of course, was a championship season centered around the very stars leading the current rendition of the Lakers. Much has changed around them, but the presence of Anthony Davis and LeBron James gives Los Angeles a fighting chance in any game or series they play.
Rather than having to scratch and claw to overcome a slow start on the path to glory in 2024-25, Davis and James can help the Lakers iron out the flaws while already in an advantageous position.
It must be stated that Los Angeles has glaring issues that need to be resolved moving forward. It currently ranks No. 22 in defensive rating, No. 24 in fast-break points permitted, No. 25 in opponent second-chance points, and No. 28 in points allowed in the paint.
The Lakers have already been active on the trade front, acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton from the Brooklyn Nets, but flaws remain.
For as true as that may be, the Lakers have shown signs of improvement. They rank 15th in defensive rating since Jan. 1, as well as sixth in fast-break points allowed—a credit to the instant impact that Finney-Smith has made on the team.
If the Lakers continue to make the necessary changes and develop habits that promote internal growth, the second half of 2024-25 season could be even more rewarding than the 2023-24 campaign was.