moranelkarifnews : JJ Redick says Lakers roster must 'get in championship shape' next season after first-round loss to Timberwolves

The morning after a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves bounced them out of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers had some questions to answer.

During a postseason news conference on Thursday morning, Lakers head coach JJ Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka answered a variety of questions about what went wrong. But one comment from Redick is already raising some eyebrows.

The first-year coach mentioned in his opening remarks that the Lakers roster “have to get in championship shape” this offseason.

“We have a ways to go as a roster, and certainly there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape, there’s certainly other ones that could’ve been in better shape. That’s where my mind goes immediately,” Redick said.

Redick didn’t mention any player in particular when making that comment. But it’s difficult to hear that and not think of Lakers guard Luka Dončić, whose conditioning has been questioned in that past. When Dončić was sent to the Lakers as part of a blockbuster deal with the Dallas Mavericks, reports indicated that Dallas’ concerns about Dončić not being in shape, along with an upcoming supermax extension this summer, led Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to make the trade.

But Redick’s comments about conditioning are especially strange given his controversial choice in Game 4 to keep all of his starters in for the second half without a substitution. Redick abandoned that strategy in Game 5 — Dončić, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves all played around 40 minutes in Wednesday’s loss — but not before walking out of a news conference after a reporter questioned the choice.

On Thursday, Redick and Pelinka’s reasons for the Lakers’ elimination were wide-ranging. Pelinka specifically mentioned the team needing a center, and some additional defensive presence. In the context of the Dončić trade, which sent big man Anthony Davis to Dallas, it’s a somewhat ironic team need — something that James hinted at during his postgame news conference on Wednesday.

“No comment,” James said with a smile, then added, “My guy AD said what he needed and then he was gone the following week, so, I got no comment.”

James marks another major question for the Lakers going forward: The 40-year-old forward, as he does every year, said Wednesday that he wants to take some time to contemplate his basketball future during the offseason. After winning a championship with the Lakers in 2020, the past five years of James’ tenure in L.A. have fallen short of expectations.

But Redick’s focus on conditioning points to the possibility of questions about Dončić as well. The guard averaged 30 points in the postseason, outscoring the entire rest of his team. And yet the combination of Dončić and James on a No. 3-seeded Lakers could not hold up against Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and the surging Timberwolves.

Despite the disappointing result, Pelinka held strong in Thursday’s news conference on both the trade and the decision to hire Redick ahead of this season.

In the months since sending Dončić to Los Angeles, Harrison has been subject to fan protests, chants of “Fire Nico” across the city, even death threats. But after the Dončić acquisition didn’t turn the Lakers into the superteam everyone hoped, there are some that are starting to come around on Harrison’s way of thinking.

The Mavericks themselves still have plenty of questions to answer after crashing out of the play-in round. But the Lakers losing this soon is raising some concerns on this end of the deal, too.

The morning after a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves bounced them out of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers had some questions to answer.

During a postseason news conference on Thursday morning, Lakers head coach JJ Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka answered a variety of questions about what went wrong. But one comment from Redick is already raising some eyebrows.

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The first-year coach mentioned that the Lakers roster must “get in championship shape” this offseason, via multiple reporters. Redick mentioned that multiple players were in “phenomenal” shape, via The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, but that others could have been in better shape.

Redick didn’t mention any player in particular when making that comment. But it’s difficult to hear that and not think of Lakers guard Luka Dončić, whose conditioning has been questioned in that past. When Dončić was sent to the Lakers as part of a blockbuster deal with the Dallas Mavericks, reports indicated that Dallas’ concerns about Dončić not being in shape, along with an upcoming supermax extension this summer, led Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to make the trade.

But Redick’s comments about conditioning are especially strange given his controversial choice in Game 4 to keep all of his starters in for the second half without a substitution. Redick abandoned that strategy in Game 5 — Dončić, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves all played around 40 minutes in Wednesday’s loss — but not before walking out of a news conference after a reporter questioned the choice.

On Thursday, Redick and Pelinka’s reasons for the Lakers’ elimination were wide-ranging. Pelinka specifically mentioned the team needing a center, and some additional defensive presence. In the context of the Dončić trade, which sent big man Anthony Davis to Dallas, it’s a somewhat ironic team need — something that James hinted at during his postgame news conference on Wednesday.

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“No comment,” James said with a smile, then added, “My guy AD said what he needed and then he was gone the following week, so, I got no comment.”

James marks another major question for the Lakers going forward: The 40-year-old forward, as he does every year, said Wednesday that he wants to take some time to contemplate his basketball future during the offseason. After winning a championship with the Lakers in 2020, the past five years of James’ tenure in L.A. have fallen short of expectations.