Who have been the biggest early surprises and disappointments for the Lakers?
Through the first two weeks of the season, which Lakers have surprised the most and who has been the most disappointing?
With two weeks of games in the rearview mirror, we’ve learned a lot of good and bad about the Lakers. That also led to a lot of questions from you guys, so let’s dive into what you guys asked for the latest Lakers mailbag.
The first name that jumped out to me for either side of this was Max Christie. I won’t dive into this too deeply because we have another question on him coming, but he has struggled.
The key thing to remember is these are his first real, regular rotation minutes. He’s going through a learning curve that should have come last year but is coming now. Being disappointed is fine, but it’s not worth giving up on him yet.
The other most disappointing player comes down to a couple of people, but I’ll land on Gabe Vincent. As someone who believed last season was an entire write-off after his injury and that he’d come into this year looking better, he’s been a big disappointment.
Offensively, he has provided very, very little. Defensively, while he is talented, his lack of size has caused problems when the Lakers run switching schemes.
On the flip side, I think the biggest surprise to me is Rui Hachimura. While he has played well before, seeing him play at this level consistently — and I realize I’m writing this after his worst game of the season against Toronto — has been great.
More than just his scoring, he is regularly rebounding, too. He’s averaging 6.8 rebounds through six games, which is not only a career-high but over two rebounds more than he did last year. The catalyst for that? His 2.5 offensive rebounds per contest. He has really committed to corner-crashing.
The other one could be a couple of players, but I’ll land on Austin Reaves. Our own Darius Soriano wrote it first, but the jump many fans expected last season is coming this season. He’s scoring at a high and efficient level and still providing the playmaking. On top of that, he looks back to form defensively, too.
First, really great question.
One of the biggest pieces of news from the last week was that the Lakers would not be picking up the option on Jalen Hood-Schifino. While it’s not surprising based on his on-court production, it is in contrast to what JJ Redick had been saying of his work during the summer.
Paired with Max’s slow start, should we be worried that two of the names mentioned for their summer work are non-factors?
In short, not yet.
First, I think being hard workers during the summer does not equate to talent, either. A lot of mediocre players or players out of the NBA are gym rats, too.
For Max, I gave some reasoning to his disappointing start above. I would add that it’s very clear he’s still finding where his offense will come from. He hasn’t found a comfort or rhythm with the second unit yet, which isn’t a surprise for a young player like him.
This is also the first time opponents have really had film to scout him with. Teams know tendencies, where he wants shots to come from and that they should run him off the line because he’s not a great finisher at the rim.
He now has to adjust to that while also learning a new system and how to contribute. It’s a lot for a 21-year-old. But he’s still very young and talented and I’m certain he’ll break through.
As for JHS, as many know, I still have land on JHS island, even if the island is flooded. There were as many non-basketball reasons as basketball ones to keep JHS. But the fact also remains he did not contribute across two injury-riddled seasons.
The pick was also kind of surprising as taking a guard who both needs the ball and needs to develop on a team with LeBron, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves is not a recipe for success. If he lands in the right place, I think he can still be a productive player in the NBA.
Is all of that an indictment on the Lakers? Not necessarily.
How often have players come to the Lakers after struggling elsewhere and found success? Malik Monk, Lonnie Walker IV, Rui Hachimura all come to mind. These situations happen around the league.
Those types of wins also should count for the scouting department, too. It isn’t just finding talent in and around the draft, but finding miscast or misused talent around the league, bringing them to Los Angeles to help them find success.
This is still the same infrastructure that helped turn Hachimura from an empty stats guy to someone who contributed to a deep playoff run. Or helped Reaves become the star he is. Or a scouting department and front office with a long track record of identifying players.
As it pertains to Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jay Huff, those are two players who the Lakers gave a lot of time to both in the NBA and in the G League and neither really panned out there. If Pippen Jr. was shooting what he is now for the Grizzlies with the Lakers, he’d have never left. Huff’s release was a matter of circumstances during a COVID- and injury-riddled season.
The jury is still out on whether this new coaching staff can develop players, but everyone around them has a long resume of wins. Don’t let recent losses tint that too much.
My first thought on this is that it’s one of those things that fans only think happens to their team but happens around the league often.
There are so many factors that go into how players play each game away from the court that fans don’t know about. Every team has nights they come out flat. The Raptors did it on Friday.
I do also think this is one of the characteristics of a LeBron James team in the regular season, though. He’s at an age where he isn’t getting up for each of these games and setting a tone. And if he’s a leader, that can bleed to other guys.
Hopefully, this is something JJ Redick can help change.
After crashing out of the first round in 2026-27, expect Anthony Edwards to demand a trade with a short list, including the Lakers and good friend Anthony Davis.
The easy solution to this is taking the top eight seeds from each conference and seeding them 1-16 in the playoffs. It allows Western Conference teams to move past Eastern Conference teams in the opening rounds and meet one another deeper in the playoffs.
It does, however, ruin a lot of tradition, which I assume is why it’d be a non-starter.
Taking accountability for a loss. That was so refreshing to see.
Some really great questions this week. Thanks to you all for this and be on the lookout for the next mailbag!
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.