For all the flaws the Los Angeles Lakers were perceived to have, the biggest element that really sunk them against the Minnesota Timberwolves was their lack of depth. The 2025 offseason has changed that.
Watching their first-round series in the 2025 NBA Playoffs was like watching a similar script for a TV show getting recycled. Game 3 through Game 5 all featured the Lakers clearly running out of gas as the night went on.
How could they not? Their key players were all carrying extremely heavy loads when it came to their minutes. Luka Doncic averaged 41.6 minutes per game. LeBron James played 40.8 minutes a night. Even Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura had 39.2 and 36.4, respectively.
It was not a sustainable formula for playoff success. The NBA Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers should have offered further proof of that. Luckily, JJ Redick has been gifted the freedom to avoid replicating that model in 2025-26.
Lakers loading up on depth will pay dividends
No one should have thought the Lakers were done making moves after the DeAndre Ayton signing. There was a need for Rob Pelinka and the franchise to prove its capabilities to Doncic ahead of a major contract decision.
Adding Marcus Smart represented another key move to address an area of need while continuing to bolstering the depth of the roster. Suddenly, the Lakers have emerged from this chunk of the offseason with a far less tragic outlook than the original prognosis.
For the most part, Pelinka's solid work has not completely won over the NBA community just yet. However, there are people who are starting to pay attention. Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon of the Game Theory Podcast were among them.
Vecenie said, "This is now a deeper team than it was last year. ... They've done about as well as you can do. ... They have 10 or 11 guys that can actually play NBA minutes now. I'm not sitting here saying that these guys are all positive NBA players necessarily, but they can all eat minutes at the very least."
The podcast host went onto to highlight the strengths the Lakers have at the top with Doncic and James. Those two should be much better complimented by a group that will be better suited to support them than last season.
Simon made sure to address how their roster upgrades will put players into positions where their roles 'make more sense.' The skill sets of the unit should shine much more with how the team is currently constructed. Lakers fans will be hoping that assessment is on the money.
This roster should not be the finished product that Los Angeles takes into the 2026 NBA Playoffs. One or two more moves to fine tune the team would serve it well. However, this can be the group that gets them to February in a strong position.