The general perception around the NBA appears to be that the Los Angeles Lakers are a far cry from a contender. If the critics are to be believed, Rob Pelinka has failed to provide the superstar duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James with the necessary help to compete at the highest level.
If the truth is quantifiable, however, then it would certainly seem as though the Lakers are in a far better position to contend than the narrative suggests.
Los Angeles will enter the 2024-25 season with an almost identical roster to what it rolled out in 2023-24. Continuity could prove to be an advantage, but the concern around the Association is that Los Angeles is doubling down on a flawed product after it lost in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
One of the quiet truths to emerge from the 2023-24 season, however, was that the Lakers' starting lineup was certifiably elite—when the right players were featured.
Los Angeles scarcely played its five best players in the starting lineup, but when it did, the results were captivating. The five-man unit of D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis was among the best in the NBA—and all five are back for the 2024-25 campaign.
With head coach JJ Redick revealing that they'll be his starting five entering the 2024-25 regular season, there's ample reason for optimism in Los Angeles.
5. .610
One of the primary reasons to believe that the Davis-Hachimura-James-Reaves-Russell lineup can work is how remarkably efficient they were in 2023-24. Across 823 possessions, they scored at virtual will with an eFG% of .610.
For context: That put the Lakers' 2024-25 starting five in the 82nd percentile in eFG% among all NBA lineups from the 2023-24 campaign.
With this in mind, the Lakers will be putting forth a lineup that not only puts points in the board, but does so as well as just about any five-man unit in the NBA. That will position it to remain competitive in almost any game it plays, so long as the defense isn't among the worst in the NBA.
As far as how productive the Lakers were beyond their efficiency, the 2024-25 starting lineup ranked in the top five of the NBA in another key statistic once they were finally formed.
4. 118.5
Los Angeles finally committed to the aforementioned starting five on February 3. From that point on, the Lakers scored 118.5 points per 100 possessions—a figure that ranked No. 3 in the NBA behind only the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers.
Considering Boston and Indiana parlayed that success into a Celtics championship and a Conference Finals encounter, it's undeniably compelling to see the Lakers rank so high.
The key to Los Angeles' success on offense was balance and efficiency. During that stretch, it ranked No. 2 in three-point field goal percentage and points in the paint, as well as No. 2 in eFG% and true shooting percentage, and No. 6 in assists per game.
For those concerned about sample size, the team's success was measured across a sustained period of 32 games—a more than sufficient example of sustained excellence.
3. +6.6
It'd be understandable if a 32-game stretch were at least somewhat insufficient as far as instilling optimism is concerned. Over the course of an 82-game season, that period of brilliance accounted for just 39.0 percent of the total games played.
Across the span of the full 82-game schedule, however, the lineup of Davis, Hachimura, James, Reaves, and Russell outscored teams by 6.6 points per 100 possessions.
The stretch from February 3 to the end of the regular season was another level of brilliance, but Los Angeles' best five-man lineup was successful all year. The issue was simply the fact that previous head coach Darvin Ham preferred to start a different lineup, with Taurean Prince in Hachimura's place.
When the Lakers' five best players were on the court, however, they lived up to the hype with a contending level of play—starting or otherwise.
2. +9.9
Whenever the Lakers are discussed as contenders, the instant response is that they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Any pushback is met with an equally as devastating fact: Los Angeles fell to the Denver Nuggets in five games, and has now lost eight of its past nine postseason outings.
It's easy to say that the Nuggets gentleman's sweeping the Lakers means they aren't contenders, but the Lakers' starting lineup actually dominated Denver in the postseason.
The five-man lineup of Davis, Hachimura, James, Reaves, and Russell outscored the Nuggets by 9.9 points per 100 possessions during the 2024 NBA Playoffs. That's a massive margin that should've been manageable to maintain, but the Lakers' second unit was ravaged by injuries.
Throw in the fact that Los Angeles led every game of that series at halftime, and it's hard to point the finger at a starting lineup that produced consistently elite results.
1. 22-10
Scoring with volume and efficiency is a compelling feat, as is the fact that Los Angeles outscored teams with the starting lineup on the court. The major test facing the new starters, however, will be guiding the team to actual victories.
Thankfully, after the aforementioned five-man unit became a full-time starting lineup on February 3, the Lakers went 22-10.
That not only sounds good on paper, but ranked as the fifth-best winning percentage in the NBA from February 3 to the end of the regular season. In other words: Los Angeles was one of the top five teams in the NBA over the course of the final 32 games of the season, when everyone was jockeying for postseason seeding.
The second unit will need to step up if 2024-25 is going to be a successful season, but there's no way around the fact that Los Angeles has a legitimately elite starting lineup.
