Los Angeles has always been a place for stars to shine their brightest. However, what if the winning approach does not call for that strategy anymore?
The Los Angeles Lakers have their three-star build with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves serving as the foundational trio to propel their team to future success. Rob Pelinka said as much at the end of the season.
“The level of confidence in Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Luka Doncic is at an all-time high still,” Pelinka told Jovan Buha and other reporters at the exit interviews. “No change in how we feel about those three guys.”
However, perhaps looking at these NBA Finals may inspire a change of heart for the Lakers front office. The way the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are both built indicates a different path being the one that will lead to success.
NBA Finals trend forcing Lakers front office to pay attention
The two teams in the 2025 NBA Finals feature something that the Lakers are incredibly deprived of: depth. Both the Thunder and Pacers have plenty of versatility in the options they can turn to, with several different types of lineups, styles, and combinations they can deploy.
That is a far cry from what the Lakers had to deal with in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. JJ Redick was struggling to find rotational players he could trust. The rookie head coach got as desperate as only featuring five players in the infamous second half of Game 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Pelinka and company should already know the value of having a deep team with a handful proven and ready contributors. That was exactly the formula that won them their only championship of the James era.
The Lakers front office surrounded LeBron and Anthony Davis with a roster that had nine different players average over 15 minutes per game, with a minimum of 15 appearances. Players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, and others all showed their worth.
Before that team ultimately won the Larry O'Brien Trophy, they were clowned for not finding a third star behind James and Davis. It worked out in their favor, clearly.
The thing that ultimately set the Lakers back was going for the three-star build, and a poorly fitting one, when they acquired Russell Westbrook at the expense of their depth. They have struggled to truly reestablish themselves since.
Their current trio is not poised to be as destructive as that one was. However, with a big-time contract decision looming for Reaves, questions of fit and financial commitment plague the Lakers. The ceiling of this group has been put under a spotlight as a result.
It is difficult to make the decision of pulling the plug on an experiment that has hardly started. However, the model of teams in this year's NBA Finals should serve as enough reason to at least doubt the current approach.