The Lakers' preseason turned colder. After opening 2-1, Los Angeles lost back-to-back: 89-101 at home to the Warriors on Oct. 13, with Austin Reaves scoring 28 and Walker Kessler 11, then 106-121 to the Nuggets on Oct. 16, with Reaves scoring 19 and Luka Dončić 15. That puts the preseason record at 2-3. A schedule note on Oct. 12 had flagged two games that week, starting Oct. 13 against the Warriors.
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The roster kept turning over. The Castro-for-Kyle move reported Oct. 9 was logged as a formal transaction Oct. 12: Rafael Castro in, William Kyle III out. Two days later, Dan Woike reported the Lakers signed Jahmir Young and Niwa Tait-Jones to camp deals. Both joined the roster Oct. 15, the same day Cole Swider left it. Young's stay was shorter still — he was off the roster again Oct. 16, one day after arriving. On Oct. 17, a hoopsrumors headline read "Grizzlies Waive Zach Cleveland; Lakers Cut Two Players," with no names given among the logged subjects.
The injury list thinned out some. Walker Kessler was cleared Oct. 13. Dalton Knecht and Arthur Kaluma were both cleared Oct. 14. Ziaire Williams, day-to-day since early October, was cleared Oct. 16. Dončić himself was added day-to-day for rest on Oct. 16 and cleared the same day. New additions arrived to replace the ones clearing: Adou Thiero went day-to-day for an undisclosed reason Oct. 13, and Jarred Vanderbilt joined the list, also undisclosed, Oct. 16. Collin Sexton is the holdout — day-to-day since Oct. 5, the issue specified as lower-leg on Oct. 10 and refined to lower-leg, right side, on Oct. 16, with no clearance reported yet.
Trade buzz surfaced for the first time this season. Jake Fischer reported Oct. 15 that the Lakers, Bucks and Grizzlies were exploring trades. A follow-up the next day, also from Fischer, widened the group to include the Hornets. No players, picks or terms were named in either report.
The Buss family dispute, first raised Oct. 7 alongside Dončić, Redick and wing depth, resurfaced Oct. 17 in a hoopsrumors item pairing it with Knecht, Grimes and Williams. It still carries no detail. Other notes logged this stretch stayed topic lists without resolution: an Oct. 11 item grouped Kessler, Mamukelashvili, Starters and LaRavia; an Oct. 12 Law Murray report paired Kessler, Sexton, Smart and Mamukelashvili; and an Oct. 15 Preseason Notes roundup placed Kessler alongside Spurs-related names Duren and Brown.
Heading into the preseason's final stretch, the Lakers have lost their last two, Sexton's leg injury has outlasted everyone else's on the list, and the Buss dispute remains an open question with no stated cause.
Open storylines
as of Sun, Oct 18Jake Fischer reported Oct. 15 and Oct. 16 that the Lakers were among teams, alongside the Bucks, Grizzlies and later the Hornets, exploring trades, with no players or terms named.
Raised again Oct. 17 alongside Knecht, Grimes and Williams, the dispute first mentioned Oct. 7 still carries no stated detail.
Day-to-day since Oct. 5, now specified as lower-leg, right side, as of Oct. 16, with no clearance reported.
Jahmir Young joined and left within a day (Oct. 15-16), Cole Swider left Oct. 15, and an Oct. 17 headline said the Lakers cut two players without naming them.
Los Angeles opened 2-1 but has since lost to the Warriors (89-101) and Nuggets (106-121), dropping to 2-3.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Luka Doncic (7.8 wins without him), Austin Reaves (7.2 wins without him), Sandro Mamukelashvili (4.9 wins without him) and Quentin Grimes (1.2 wins without him): on/off from 2025-26, details under Injuries. Computed Fri, Oct 23; the method is on the methods page.
The race
Western Conference · 81 games leftNext 5: vs Clippers100%at Jazz0%vs Trail Blazers100%at Clippers100%at Warriors0%opponents win 60% of their games on average
Standings and games back are from the official table; the pace is the current record carried over 82 games, nothing more.
Day by day
34 days on the recordEarlier on the record30 more days · back to Mon, Sep 7
The franchise
Every season since the start →Public record →Nowupdated 2026-10-19
JJ Redick enters his second season as head coach after taking over following the LeBron James era. The core now runs through Luka Dončić, acquired in a February 1, 2025 trade that sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas for Dončić, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris; Davis's departure closed the James-and-Davis era. Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler round out the top of the rotation, with Quentin Grimes, Jake LaRavia, Collin Sexton, Ziaire Williams, and Sandro Mamukelashvili filling out the group. Last season the Lakers went 53-29, with a net rating of 1.5 that ranked 14th in the league — the offense finished 10th, the defense 19th. Payroll sits at $201.3 million across 16 contracts, above the $200.4 million luxury tax line, with Dončić's $49.8 million, Reaves's $41.2 million, Kessler's $30.2 million, and Grimes's $14.0 million as the biggest numbers. Draft capital is thin: the 2027 first is protected to Memphis, the 2027 second conditional to Brooklyn, the 2028 and 2030 firsts and seconds are swaps, and Dallas and Memphis are owed first- and second-round picks through 2029. The talk of the summer was LeBron James leaving as a free agent for the 76ers, along with early word that the team's ownership was about to change hands again.
Identity and rivalries113 words
The Lakers still measure themselves against the Celtics, a rivalry that runs back through the 1960s Finals losses to Boston and the 2020 championship that tied the two clubs at 17 titles apiece. The crosstown Clippers carry their own charge, sharpened by a shared history in Los Angeles. The stakes in both matchups are sharper now: with Dončić as the clear lead player entering this season, every game against Boston or the Clippers becomes a test of whether this version of the team can push back toward real contention. The fan base's live argument is whether a roster built around Dončić and Reaves, with real work still needed on defense, can get there.
Home, owners and numbers116 words
The Lakers have played in Los Angeles since 1960, when owner Bob Short moved the franchise from Minneapolis. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979, and his daughter Jeanie Buss has held controlling, lifetime operational authority since a 2017 family settlement. That changed this year: the NBA board of governors approved a sale of majority control to Mark Walter at a $10 billion valuation on October 30, 2025, with the Buss family keeping a 15% stake, the minimum allowed for a principal owner. Then, on August 12, 2026, Walter agreed to sell his controlling interest to Bob Iger, the former Disney CEO, and Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, for an American sports record $12.5 billion.
What they are chasing92 words
The Lakers are chasing an 18th championship, with Dončić and Reaves now carrying the roster built around them. The front office's room to maneuver is thin: payroll already sits above the luxury tax line, with the first tax apron at $209.0 million and the second at $221.7 million not far beyond where the roster currently sits. Fans are arguing over two open threads: what Jake Fischer's reports of the Lakers, Bucks, Grizzlies, and Hornets exploring trades might produce, and what is actually behind the unexplained Buss family dispute first raised this month.
The long view454 words
The franchise began in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League. After one losing season, new owners Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen bought the team for $15,000 and moved it to Minneapolis, naming it for the state's "Land of 10,000 Lakes." John Kundla coached, and George Mikan anchored a run of titles: the 1948 NBL championship, the 1949 BAA championship after switching leagues, and, following the NBL-BAA merger into the NBA, four championships in five seasons through 1954. Mikan's retirement led to a decline, though Elgin Baylor, drafted first overall in 1958, restored the team to the Finals. Financial struggles pushed owner Bob Short to move the club to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season.
With Baylor and Jerry West, drafted in 1960, the Lakers reached six NBA Finals in the 1960s and lost all six to the Boston Celtics, the start of the sport's defining rivalry. The team moved into a new arena, the Forum, in 1967. In 1968 the Lakers traded for four-time MVP Wilt Chamberlain. Under coach Bill Sharman, they won a then-record 69 games and an NBA-record 33 straight in 1971-72, capturing the franchise's sixth championship; Chamberlain won Finals MVP.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived by trade after Chamberlain retired. In 1979, Jerry Buss bought the Lakers and built basketball into entertainment, while the team drafted Magic Johnson first overall. Pat Riley was promoted to head coach in 1981 and James Worthy joined in the 1982 draft. That core won five championships in nine years, beating the Celtics in the 1985 and 1987 Finals after losing to them in 1984.
The early 1990s brought decline as Riley, Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy departed. In 1996 the Lakers traded the Charlotte Hornets for Kobe Bryant's draft rights and signed Shaquille O'Neal. With coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers won three straight titles from 2000 to 2002. After a 2004 Finals loss to Detroit, O'Neal was traded; a deal for Pau Gasol brought the team back to the Finals, losing to Boston in 2008 but beating them in 2009 and 2010.
Jackson's 2011 retirement opened the franchise's longest playoff drought; Gasol left in 2014 and Bryant retired in 2016. LeBron James signed in 2018, and a 2019 trade brought Anthony Davis. Coached by Frank Vogel, James and Davis delivered the 17th championship in 2020, tying the Celtics for the most titles at the time. In February 2025 the Lakers traded Davis for Luka Dončić.
The Lakers play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference at Crypto.com Arena, shared with the WNBA's Sparks and NHL's Kings. Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for the club and four have coached it; Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal, and Bryant combined for eight MVP awards as Lakers.