One thing that has been surprising about the Los Angeles Lakers tenure of head coach JJ Redick has been the way that Redick–who was never known as a defensive ace during his playing career–has managed to cobble together defenses that are better than the sum of their parts. The Lakers had few effective defensive pieces last season, and were No. 20 in the league, but even that was a pleasant surprise and, more important, they got better as the season went on. The Lakers were No. 8 in defensive efficiency after the All-Star break.
But for the coming 2026-27 season, the Lakers will need the full weight of Redick’s powers as a defensive coach. Yes, they got a potential defensive star in Walker Kessler, who can protect the rim and rebound with the best of the league’s big men. But there is very little other defensive talent that Redick can turn to on this roster, and Kessler can only block so many shots.
Lakers Set for Big Offensive Season
With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in the backcourt, and up-tempo point guard Collin Sexton behind them on the bench, the Lakers should have little trouble scoring next season. They’ve got shooters on the wings and Kessler can be an effective rim-runner.
But one quote from a notebook compiled by Spotrac’s Keith Smith is a reminder of the big problem that the Lakers have going into the season. The defense.
One scout told Smith: “Well, there’s certainly a lot of offense. And I think it’s offense that all fits together pretty well. They have way more shooting this year than last year. More off-the-dribble creation too. They should be a really good passing team also. Defensively…well, they’ll score a lot of points! (laughs) If (head coach) JJ (Redick) can get this group in the top-20 on defense, give him Coach of the Year, because they’ll probably be awesome.”
Walker Kessler Defensive Key
Indeed, it will be a challenge for Redick, and one thing that the Lakers figure to be focused on as next season progresses is developing the defensive talent already within the system–a breakout year from Adou Thiero would be helpful there–and finding more defensive help on the trade market. Their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga is ongoing, but he has not been a reliable defender in the past.
Kessler, meanwhile, might well average 3.0 blocks per game. He joked recently that dunks and bocks are pretty much what he is known for.
“If people ask two things I do really well it’d probably be these two things,” Kessler said on Lakers YouTube. “Obviously I think I can do a little more than that, but you know, this is a good staple piece. I would rather have a game-winning block I think, rather than a game-winning dunk. Just because I think stopping someone and breaking their hopes and dreams of ever trying to win is …that sounds terrible. I don’t mean it like that. But I would say game-winning block (laughs).”
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