The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of a stretch that can be boiled down to one simple word: Challenging. Rui Hachimura and LeBron James have been out with injuries, Luka Doncic is nursing an ankle sprain, and Los Angeles is now 3-5 over its past eight games.
For as concerning as that all may be, there's a rational explanation for how the red-hot Lakers suddenly began playing below-.500 basketball—and it's bigger than injuries.
Losing two starters and having Doncic on a bad leg certainly doesn't help. For that matter, it'd be an entirely fair explanation on its own. The added context, however, is what hammers the point home that Los Angeles can actually call this recent stretch a mild success.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Lakers head coach JJ Redick cited the fact that Los Angeles just played six games in eight days—each of which was a part of a back-to-back.
“You have to look at it in the big picture and feel good that you go 3-3 in this stretch,” Redick said. “I don’t think the game that exists today in the NBA and the modern NBA player is (built to do this). I wouldn’t be either if this was what I came up in and this was the game that I had to play every night. It’s different than when I first started."
Redick continued:
“You’re not built to play six games in eight nights. The game doesn’t allow you to play six games in eight nights. It’s just impossible. … What our guys just went through, it’s difficult.”
No other team in the NBA has played six games in eight days this season, and while it was due to the rescheduling of games that were postponed during the California wildfires, it was taxing nonetheless.
JJ Redick reminds critics of Lakers' atrocious recent schedule
Los Angeles entered the recent stretch of six games in eight days on a two-game losing streak, but it was also 8-0 before that. It's also worth noting that those two losses were during and directly after the games that James went down with a groin injury.
Furthermore, the Lakers ripped off a three-game winning streak in the middle of the grueling stretch of back-to-backs.
Context also includes the fact that the recent 118-89 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks saw every Lakers starter but Jaxson Hayes sitting out. Los Angeles also lost by just five points to the Denver Nuggets on a night when they were without Doncic, Hachimura, and James.
Context provided, the Lakers have every reason to be happy with how they fought during a stretch that no other team has had to endure in 2024-25.
The schedule isn't exactly getting easier from here, as almost every remaining game will be played against a team that's on pace to make the Playoffs or Play-In Tournament. Games will be spread out more evenly, however, and both Hachimura and James could return as soon as Mar. 22.
With a roster at full strength and a schedule that isn't bordering on impossible to navigate, the Lakers should get back to the form that made them a contender again.
Even after the recent downswing, Los Angeles boasts the third-best record in the NBA since Jan. 15. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics have been better, which should firmly display how special the team has looked over the course of more than two months of play.
Thankfully, Redick is maintaining a rational perspective instead of leaning into the frustration of a tough stretch of games.