Luka Doncic has always been a maestro with the basketball in his hands, opening the door for two specific player archetypes to thrive around his playmaking. One of those are centers who are comfortable operating as rim runners and play finishers. The other would be 3-point marksmen.
For all the previous concerns and knee-jerk reactions to a bad performance or two, Deandre Ayton has actually provided encouraging early returns on his Los Angeles Lakers experience. Jaxson Hayes has also been serviceable as the backup behind him.
The lack of shooting, on the other hand, has been obvious. The Lakers rank towards the bottom of the NBA, connecting on only 33.0 percent of their 3-point makes through nine games of the 2025-26 season. The confidence has not even been there to really let that shot fly with consistency, with the Lakers also being towards the bottom of the league in terms of 3-point attempts.
Doncic is way too good at creating easy and open looks on the perimeter for that gift to go completely to waste. Even with the Lakers' strong 7-2 start, Rob Pelinka should be urgently poking around the NBA to see which sharpshooters could be available before the 2026 trade deadline.
Lakers need to add as much shooting to the rotation as they can find
The Lakers are establishing a formula of winning games through toughness, determination, and resiliency. Getting a few extra 3-point shots to drop in the meantime should not hurt the cause.
A player like Dalton Knecht has notably regressed on the perimeter, failing to shake the shooting slump that plagued him throughout the summer. Knecht is shooting 21.4 percent from beyond the arc for the Lakers this season. That has only made the Lakers weaker.
The opportunities to make an impact have been there for him too. Knecht has played 18.4 minutes per game in his eight appearances for the Lakers. The second-year man has gotten his shot at being the solution.
There have been a few standouts. Rui Hachimura is connecting at a strong 47.2 percent clip from deep on 4.0 attempts per game. Jake LaRavia has hit 40.6 percent of his 3.6 attempts a night as well.
As a whole, though, the Lakers have been lacking. In particular, their catch-and-shoot numbers, which should be there for the taking around Doncic, have been lackluster.
The Lakers rank toward the bottom of the league in both taking and making catch-and-shoot triples. The percentage of makes, at 32.8, is actually worse than the entire body of their overall 3-pointers. That is troublesome considering the catch-and-shoot looks should be the easy ones.
LeBron James will eventually be back in purple and gold to help boost these figures. James has been a surprisingly good player in recent years for that category. However, the overall need to address the shooting concerns should not be ignored by Pelinka if the trend continues to hold.