Right after the Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the first round of the NBA playoffs in May by the Minnesota Timberwolves, coach JJ Redick said they needed to get into “championship shape” for the 2025-26 season.
The comment was widely interpreted as being directed squarely at Luka Doncic, who was fat and out of shape at the time. But the Slovenian superstar dropped extra weight and got into great shape this summer, and overall, Redick seemed happy with the conditioning work his players put in over the offseason.
Advertisement
As the Lakers prepared for their first preseason game of the new campaign, which will take place on Friday, Redick worked his men hard in order to continue to get into prime shape. He made them do a series of sprints to end practice on Thursday, and afterward, he admitted that they may not be happy with him as a result.
“I can say we’re in better shape than we were three days ago,” Redick said. “And I feel like our group is talking more than they were three days ago.
“… I don’t know if they like me right now with what we just finished practice with.”
During its five-game loss to the Timberwolves in the playoffs, L.A. seemed to fade in the fourth quarter and make costly mistakes. At least some of that may be able to be attributed to a lack of conditioning, so being in better shape would definitely help the team during crunch time.
Better conditioning will also help the Lakers on the defensive end, which is a big concern many have for them right now. They were 17th in defensive rating during the 2024-25 regular season, and in the playoffs, they finished 12th in that category out of the 16 teams that qualified.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: JJ Redick continues to get the Lakers into ‘championship shape’