The regular season is coming to a close for the Los Angeles Lakers and head coach JJ Redick wants his team to adopt a playoff mentality, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
The Lakers are in third place in the Western Conference standings. If the regular season ended today, Redick's group would face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs.
Los Angeles can't afford to get complacent, though, since the teams behind them in the standings are in hot pursuit of that third seed.
Entering Thursday's game against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers are 46-29. The Denver Nuggets (4th seed) are 47-30 and the Warriors (5th seed) are 44-31.
If the Lakers don't finish the regular season strong, they won't be the third seed.
Redick is in his first season as head coach of the Lakers, who are 19th in the NBA in points per game, 12th in points per game allowed, 14th in offensive rating, 14th in defensive rating and 14th in net rating.
The Lakers, of course, are led by LeBron James and Luka Doncic, two of the top players in the NBA.
LeBron is averaging 24.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists on the season, while Doncic is putting up 27.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game in 22 games with Los Angeles.
After Thursday's game against the Warriors, the Lakers will have six games left in the regular season.
Related: Warriors' Draymond Green Issues Message to LeBron James, Lakers Before NBA Playoffs
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This story was originally published April 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM.