For much of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers were a team that frustrated their fans with head-scratching losses as often as they wowed them with dominant victories. This was the most night-and-day team in the Association, and the numbers back it up. These Lakers are one of only two teams in NBA history to win 50-plus games while also tallying at least 10 losses of 20-plus points. The only other squad to do it? The 2024-25 Lakers. Sigh.
This Lakers season was a constant rollercoaster of both quality and crap basketball, but then March happened, and everything changed. The Lakers caught fire and went 15-2 in the month. Luka Doncic rounded into form as the All-World megastar that he is, forcing his name into the top of the MVP conversation. LeBron James was fully embracing his third-option role that made everything work perfectly. In sum, the Lakers looked like a reliable contender, even if they were still not quite as shiny as the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers were totally clicking just before disaster struck
The fanbase was beaming from collective ear to ear, and everything was going swimmingly for the Lakers as the playoffs loomed. What timing! Then, it all fell apart on April 2. In a high-profile game against the defending champion Thunder, both Luka and Austin Reaves went down with injuries. Luka suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain, ending his regular season and placing his postseason in serious doubt. Reaves suffered a Grade 2 left oblique strain, putting him on a similar (though still murky) timeline as Luka.
In an instant, LA's season -- which had become so promising -- grew dark, stormy, and depressing. With the postseason now almost upon us, the Lakers still have an outside chance to win their first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets (especially if LeBron can pull off another career-defining series), but ultimately, LA's playoff ceiling pretty much ends there, as long as Doncic and Reaves aren't healthy.
Even if those two return to action for a second-round series, or one of them manages to, the conditioning concerns and repeat injury concerns will be daunting. It's simply not in the cards for LA this year, which puts this group in danger of being judged by history for the worst elements of this 2025-26 season.
This Lakers squad will sadly be remembered for their worst qualities
With the Lakers' almost-certain destiny now in view (an early playoff exit), all of the frustrating elements of their season are returning to the forefront. Misery loves company. And indeed, when anyone glances back at the 2025-26 Lakers' season in future years, the campaign will look like, largely, a massive disappointment.
To have followed this team throughout the early-to-mid-season drudgery and all of the inconsistency, and to have seen them come together in March with the look and feel of a champion ... it's something that history won't properly record. These Lakers will be seen as failures, but there was a glimpse of endless potential just before Doncic and Reaves went down. Hopefully, LA can put that energy in a bottle and unleash it in 2026-27.