![\"JJ](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lakers-Trade-Pitch-Celtics-Jrue-Holiday.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Lakers head coach JJ Redick could be looking at a very different roster next season.<\/p>\n
The lasting image of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> during the 2025 NBA playoffs was of a team that struggled mightily on the defensive end. A lot of those woes could be attributed to the team\u2019s lack of a rim protector, but also the perimeter challenges faced by their Big 3 of LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic.<\/p>\n To address those issues, the Lakers added\u00a0Deandre Ayton<\/a>, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Adou Thiero<\/a>, while also re-signing Jaxson Hayes and inking Doncic to a contract extension. Furthermore, the franchise is reportedly in hot pursuit of Andrew Wiggins<\/a>, one of the best two-way wings in the NBA.<\/p>\n Surely, all those moves would help the Lakers improve defensively, right? ESPN\u2019s Kevin Pelton<\/a> isn\u2019t sold. While analyzing each team\u2019s \u201cbiggest role hole\u201d entering the 2025-26 season, Pelton explained why the Lakers\u2019 perimeter defense remains a worry.<\/p>\n Lakers Defense Still a Problem?<\/p>\n \u201cBiggest roster hole: On-ball defense,\u201d Pelton said of the Lakers.<\/p>\n \u201cAs potent as the Lakers\u2019 perimeter trio of Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves is offensively, it\u2019s limited defensively,\u201d he added. \u201cDorian Finney-Smith, now in Houston, served as the Lakers\u2019 perimeter stopper after the deadline. They added Marcus Smart, but at this stage of his career, Smart might be better against big opponents than defending the point of attack.\u201d<\/p>\n To Pelton\u2019s point, the Lakers lost DFS \u2014 their best perimeter defender last season \u2014 to free agency this season, creating a big hole on the wings. The team is reportedly hoping that Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a>, who missed a chunk of games last season with injury, could return to the player he was in the 2022-23 season when the Lakers reached the Western Conference Finals.<\/p>\n Can Wiggins Fix the Issues?<\/p>\n Another solution could come in the form of Andrew Wiggins, who was the Warriors\u2019 best defender during their run to the 2022 NBA championship.<\/p>\n In fact, Lakers beat writer Jovan Buha believes<\/a> the addition of Wiggins will help the team elevate to the elite tier of West teams such as the Thunder, Nuggets and Rockets.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Lakers were to get Andrew Wiggins, or a player of that ilk, a player of that archetype \u2014 I think that\u2019s the ideal player to put besides Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves,\u201d Buha continued.<\/p>\n \u201cA two-way wing who can guard multiple positions, including backcourt players and wings, and take that burden off LeBron, Luka, Austin and Rui [Hachmura], turning them into help defenders \u2014 but also someone who can complement the skill sets of Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Forbes\u2019 Evan Sidery<\/a>, the Lakers are open to trading Dalton Knecht alongside expiring contracts to pull off a trade with the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n \u201cLos Angeles is very open to moving former first-round pick Dalton Knecht alongside the necessary expiring salary. Miami wants a future first-round pick attached in the package,\u201d\u00a0Sidery reported on X.<\/a><\/p>\n The likes of Rui Hachimura, Maxi Kleber and Gabe Vincent are all on expiring contracts and could be used as trade chips to land Wiggins.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Lakers head coach JJ Redick could be looking at a very different roster next season. The lasting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-160685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}