Why Lakers’ defense is vastly improved after offseason construction

In the immediate aftermath of his team’s 2025-26 season ending, Lakers coach JJ Redick clearly and plainly laid out one of the biggest points of emphasis for 2026-27.

“We clearly need to have a better overall season defensively,” Redick said in May.

Walker Kessler is a core reason why the Lakers should have a better defense in 2026-27. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST

The critique was sensible.

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The Lakers were coming off a regular season in which they ranked No. 18 defensively despite ranking No. 12 in the second half of the season.

“We had flashes of that,” Redick added. “I have said this numerous times: Our improvement defensively is a big credit to our staff, [assistant coaches] Bob [Beyer] and Greg [St. Jean], and the work they did in film and in walk-throughs. But we gotta do better defensively.”

And after their offseason roster reconstruction, the Lakers will be better defensively in 2026-27 than they were last season despite external narratives that state the contrary.

The heart of their improved defense will come from the marquee addition of Walker Kessler, who already showed in his first four seasons in the NBA with the Jazz that he’s one of the league’s premier rim protectors.

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It’s universally accepted throughout the NBA that the Lakers should be a better rim protecting team (they finished second-to-last in defensive field goal percentage at the rim in 2025-26) with Kessler starting at center instead of Deandre Ayton.

But it’s been their perimeter defense that has been questioned.

Quentin Grimes, defending his now teammate Luka Doncic, will be key for the Lakers’ improved perimeter defense. Getty Images

Despite losing Marcus Smart, who was the team’s best defender last season, the Lakers actually improved their point-of-attack defense significantly.

Smart may be a better perimeter defender than anyone currently on the Lakers, but the issue with last season’s team was the lack of strong perimeter defenders behind him.

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That won’t be an issue in 2026-27.

Not only did the Lakers keep their second- and third-best perimeter defenders from last season’s team in Jarred Vanderbilt…

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Publish date : 2026-09-15 16:02:00

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