Lakers feel they have pieces in place to make NBA Finals run. Can they?

For all the drama that surrounded the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason, you wouldn’t have known it judging by all the smiles at the podium during media day on Monday, Sept. 28.

The Lakers are coming off a second consecutive 50-win season under head coach JJ Redick and went with a complete roster overhaul in the wake of LeBron James’ exit. President of basketball operations Rob Pelinka swung big, landing Walker Kessler to be their center of the future in a trade that sent two first-round draft picks and two unprotected first-round pick swaps back to the Utah Jazz. That move was followed up by filling out the roster around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves with supporting players who can dribble, pass and shoot. And after an offseason trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia, the new-look Lakers feel bought in.

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USA TODAY Sports predicts the Lakers record in 2026-27 at 48-34, in large part due to the uncertainty surrounding so many new faces and the growing pains that are sure to come up at some point. Reaves acknowledged that on Monday.

“We’re a very new team to one another,” Reaves told reporters. “And there’s gonna be some growing periods where things aren’t going the way that we want them to go. But that doesn’t change the goal at the end of the day, and that’s to be as competitive as we can every single night.”

“I think we’re all underrated, if that makes sense, in different aspects,” Collin Sexton added. “We’re competitors. I feel like we added people that are willing to compete and we added guys that don’t back down to anyone. I know for myself, I’m somebody that’s not gonna back down to any challenge. I’m not gonna back down to anyone.

“… We’re here.”

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Ziaire Williams took it one step further.

“We have a bunch of great passers on this team, great shooters, great defensive versatility,” he told reporters. “I think we have everything we need to win an NBA championship.”

Here are the five biggest takeaways from Lakers media day on Monday Sept. 28:

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Publish date : 2026-09-29 04:02:00

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