The Los Angeles Lakers face the unenviable task of getting all their new faces to fit together in the early parts of the 2026-27 season. Roles, pecking orders, schemes, and so much more will need to be figured out after more than half of the roster was overhauled. Thankfully for them, the schedule release on Thursday brought news of an easy slate of games out of the gates.
Here are the Lakers first 10 opponents: the Golden State Warriors (twice), Los Angeles Clippers (twice), Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers (twice), Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat, and Sacramento Kings.
There are only two playoff teams and three total matchups against those squads in the first 10 games of the 2026-27 season for the Lakers. For argument's sake, throw the Heat into the mix, too, as a team of that caliber after adding Giannis Antetokounmpo. That still leaves a very manageable schedule to navigate.
Six of those 10 matchups are also at home. That includes all the games against those playoff teams. The Lakers should have every opportunity to go through the natural challenges and obstacles that come with getting a brand-new group to gel under very manageable circumstances.
Lakers' new faces will get tuned up against an easy opening 10 games
The Lakers are bound to have issues out of the gates. The new roster does have plenty of familiar connections for Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and JJ Redick. Even so, there will be an inevitable period of truly feeling each other out that is going to be far from perfect.
To some capacity, there is rarely a giftwrapped victory in the NBA. However, not considering the Lakers' starting 10 games as favorable would be simply untrue.
If you were a player trying to figure out your new environment, would you rather do that against the San Antonio Spurs or the tanking team in Sacramento? There is an obvious answer to that.
The Lakers should hope the manageable start to the first 10 games gets them off on the right foot as games 11 through 14 will immediately hit them with a four-game road trip that features three playoff teams from last season. Things will ramp up quickly.
Doncic and Reaves give the Lakers a fallback option in the early goings of the season to steal basketball games even when the group as a whole is still searching for how to be at their best. Los Angeles will need to evolve beyond just relying on them to truly hit their stride, though. The first 10 will allow for that type of experimentation without major worry over the win-loss column.
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