JJ Redick says this is the first time in his three years with the Lakers that the roster feels like it actually fits together.
That’s a notable thing to hear in a summer where the Lakers have remade a large part of the group around him. They added seven players in free agency, re-signed Austin Reaves to a four-year, $184.7 million contract, and brought in 7-foot-2 center Walker Kessler in a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz. They also signed Quentin Grimes to a four-year, $60 million deal.
Redick’s view is straightforward.
“I think with this group, probably the first time in my three years here that I feel like the pieces actually fit together,” he said.
He also described it as the most cohesive roster-building he’s had since being hired two summers ago.
That optimism is part of the Lakers’ public reset as they move out of the LeBron James era. Rob Pelinka said the organization accomplished its top three offseason goals, and the front office has framed the summer as a clean structural overhaul rather than a patchwork fix. The Lakers won 53 games and reached the Western Conference semifinals last season, but the new message is about what comes next: a younger, more defined roster that can hold together over a full season.
The catch is that one of the departures cuts directly against that confidence.
Marcus Smart is gone, and his exit leaves a specific defensive hole. Last season, Smart was the Lakers’ most reliable stopper, and his departure has already been viewed as rough. The concern is not abstract. If the Lakers are selling fit, they are also asking a roster without Smart to cover for the kind of perimeter defense he provided.
That tension sits underneath the rest of the offseason. The Lakers kept Reaves, added Kessler, and signed Grimes, but they also gave up two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to get Kessler, leaving them without full control of their first-round pick until 2032. The cost of the move makes the margin for error thinner, especially if the roster’s defensive balance is not as sturdy as the front office believes.
Smart’s own departure only sharpened the debate. He suggested the Lakers’ free-agent offer was disrespectful, and the result is a roster that looks cleaner on paper in some areas while losing a player who had already established himself as the team’s most dependable defender.
Pelinka’s version of the offseason is that the Lakers hit their targets. The question now is whether the structure he and Redick are pointing to can survive the weakness that came with losing Smart.
The Lakers are aiming for their seventh playoff appearance in the past eight seasons, and the season will quickly show whether this version of the roster is as balanced as Redick says. The fit may be better. The test is whether it is strong enough.