MINNEAPOLIS — After a midseason loss to the Clippers, Lakers coach JJ Redick and LeBron James sounded a bit of an alarm, both coach and leader saying the Lakers didn’t have the luxury to just be pretty good.
The Lakers, if they wanted to win tough games, needed to be great.
“It’s just, we don’t have a huge margin for error,” Redick said.
“That’s how our team is constructed,” James said. “We don’t have room for error.”
April 25, 2025
But in a single phone call, when the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks agreed to a blockbuster trade, the Lakers got the ultimate margin mover in Luka Doncic.