The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most exciting teams in the Western Conference heading into the 2025-26 season. The team has been working well together throughout training camp and the preseason while dealing with LeBron James’ injury to start the season.
The Western Conference for the 2025-26 season is packed with talented teams. Most everyone knows that the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets are the overwhelming favorites to win. But anything can happen, especially when the Los Angeles Lakers have two superstars on their team.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick is pleased with his team’s performance in training camp and the preseason. One thing that has impressed him is the team chemistry and how effective the communication between them is.
LeBron James will miss the start of the season, so a new starting lineup has been prepared. Despite all the problems caused by James’ sciatica, Luka Doncic and the rest of the team strengthened the team’s chemistry.
As a basketball expert, Redick knows what it takes for a team to win a championship. He may not have won a title during his playing days, but he knows more about basketball than most.
With the Lakers, he has made tremendous progress heading into the 2025-26 season. They have talented players, but Redick appreciates how they are improving their chemistry. Communication has improved. This is important for teams that want to compete with the Thunder and Nuggets.
In terms of body language and communication, the Lakers are doing a good job. For Redick, this checks a lot of boxes for a strong 2025-26 campaign they hope to go on to. This is a good sign, even though they may struggle without James.
“As I observed today, there were a lot of small interactions. To me, small interactions are very important to the best teams, best groups, best organizations in any field,” Reddick said after Saturday’s practice.
“Small interactions are very important in any area. How many small interactions do you have during a game? There should be thousands. Good screens, good work, good passes. That’s what you’re starting to see from our group. Last year it wasn’t that good.”
“It’s part of our championship communications. Things like that are happening in real time and we feel good about our progress. We still have a ways to go, but it’s happening.”
It’s surprising that the Lakers aren’t the favorites with James and Doncic on the same team. But it only proves that the West is rich in talented teams. The Lakers aren’t a top team, but if they can show their best form at the right time, they have a chance to compete.
It will be difficult to dethrone the Thunder and defeat the Nuggets, but the Lakers can do it. The chemistry is improving, and Doncic plans to go through a full training camp. Doncic only played the second half of the 2024-25 season, but is now fully integrated into the system.
As long as they maintain their chemistry, the Lakers could pull off some big surprises. They have talent and depth right now. It will be up to Redick to devise a game plan and make sure his players perform well after a major offseason change.