The Los Angeles Lakers had a terrible bench unit in 2024-25. From a pure production standpoint, the group has actually gotten worse in 2025-26. Luckily for JJ Redick, LeBron James and Austin Reaves offer the perfect solution to the second-unit woes in Los Angeles.
Last season, James was tasked with quarterbacking the bench players all by his lonesome. It led to a statistical outlier for the Lakers superstar which his critics would not shut up about.
LeBron's season debut for Los Angeles suggested Redick may still be looking towards his aging superstar to help elevate some of the support pieces of the second unit. However, this time around, the Lakers head coach appeared tuned in to the fact that James needed more help.
Reaves spent a lot of time sharing the court with James during the latter's first outing of the season. That should be the combo that is tasked with lifting up the bench when the time calls for those substitutions.
LeBron James and Austin Reaves are the duo Lakers need to rely on
If any of the Lakers' three stars are going to be left alone with the backups, it will be Luka Doncic. The superstar point guard is playing at an MVP level and can certainly be asked to backpack an offense all by himself.
Otherwise, turning to James and Reaves as a duo is the right move. It may be a small sample size, but the pairing quickly showcased their chemistry in the strong 140-126 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.
James and Reaves shared the court for 26 minutes in the win, the second most of any two-man combination for the Lakers. The results were pretty good for Los Angeles, with the duo posting a positive net rating of 5.4 in their time together on the floor.
Having both available and mixing them in with second unit guys led to a solid 40-point performance from the bench. Granted, some of those came in garbage time when the Lakers had the game locked up.
Even so, the results were much better than what the Lakers showcased last season or earlier in this campaign.
In 2024-25, Los Angeles produced the second fewest points per game off the bench with a disappointing mark of 26.2. In 2025-26, they are dead last in the NBA with only 25.3 points per game from their second unit to this point.
Redick getting the opportunity to leave either Doncic or a combination of James and Reaves should help balance the Lakers out. The stars in Los Angeles already have the formula in place to lead a revival of their depth scoring.