The Los Angeles Lakers, as currently constructed, are not good enough to win an NBA championship. Luckily for them, there is still plenty of time between now and the NBA trade deadline to add to the foundation and erect a true contender around Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
For Rob Pelinka to move the necessary pieces around and finalize a team that looks the part of a true contender before the trade deadline, the Lakers will need to provide their general manager with the needed motivation. That can happen within the first 20 games of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Jovan Buha was of a similar opinion when answering a question on a recent episode of his podcast regarding how serious the front office was about this season. The Lakers insider thought December or January would provide a better answer to that.
Buha said, "I think they're also looking at this like, 'We want to see how good this team is.' ... If it's the Christmas Day game against Houston, ... and they're rolling, it's going to be hard to not make another move to lean into what this group has built and how they're looking at the time."
Lakers' early schedule should offer needed reassurance for Rob Pelinka
The Lakers reporter thought the third seed was a sweet spot for the team in this discussion. If Los Angeles has regressed to holding a spot in the Play-In Tournament, Buha thought the conversation would go a lot differently internally.
It will all depend on how the start to the season goes, according to the Lakers insider. This thought was fueled by the history of how the front office has operated in recent seasons.
The good news for Lakers fans hoping that Pelinka will invest into the group in front of him would be the massive gift that the NBA has already given to Los Angeles. With the 2025-26 schedule released, it is already known just how easy the first stretch of the new year should be for the Lakers.
Five out of the Lakers' first 20 games in the new season will be against teams who clinched a top six seed in the 2024-25 campaign. 12 of those games will be against teams who missed the playoffs entirely in the previous season.
There is a very strong opportunity for the Lakers to be hovering around the top of the Western Conference near the start of December. If that momentum can be maintained from there, to Buha's point, Pelinka will get the encouragement needed to believe in further bolstering roster in Los Angeles.