It's clear that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to have to clean up their defensive output between now and April if they want to be a true threat to make a deep run in the playoffs. For that to happen, JJ Redick must figure out a way to make the Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura pairing work on that side of the ball.
Sam Vecenie of the Game Theory Podcast recently discussed this issue. He was spot on in mentioning how the Lakers' defensive performance has tanked since LeBron James returned to the lineup, and in how Ayton and Hachimura simply don't work well when they're on the floor together defensively.
When those two share the floor, the Lakers have a shocking 124 defensive rating. This is primarily because neither of them are particularly strong when it comes to defensive IQ or playing help defense. Couple that with LeBron's shortcomings as a defender, and you've got an equation for real trouble.
The Lakers' defense needs big improvements
That puts Redick in a tough but unavoidable spot as the season progresses. The Lakers simply cannot keep bleeding points whenever those lineups hit the floor and expect to survive a seven-game series. Opponents have already been targeting Ayton and Hachimura in space, forcing late rotations and generating open looks at the rim or from the corners. That's just not something effort alone is going to fix.
One potential adjustment is staggering those two more aggressively. Ayton is still a solid rebounder, but he's far more playable when surrounded by defenders who can communicate early and rotate decisively. Asking him and Hachimura to solve problems together has led to hesitation, and hesitation creates big problems on defense. Redick may have to accept that the minutes they overlap need to be limited if the goal is postseason viability.
Another wrinkle is how Luka Doncic fits into all of this. Luka’s offensive brilliance changes the ceiling of this team, but it also means the Lakers have to be far more intentional about who shares the floor with him. If the Lakers are already giving ground defensively at the point of attack, pairing that with slow backline reactions becomes a compounding issue. That's where Redick’s lineup creativity has to show up, even if it means leaning more on smaller or quicker groups.
The uncomfortable truth is that the Lakers’ margin for error is pretty thin right now. They don't have the personnel to simply outscore every mistake. If Redick can't find a workable defensive structure with Ayton and Hachimura, trades are going to have to come. Cleaning this up is likely the difference between being a dangerous playoff team, and suffering another early exit.