• The Lakers are trying to build a season around three linked questions that all come back to the same thing: can their new core stay on the floor long enough to matter?
  • Walker Kessler is supposed to be the defensive anchor.
  • Austin Reaves is now paid like a star and expected to hold up under a bigger workload.
  • Luka Doncic is stepping into a larger leadership role after LeBron James’ departure.
  • Kessler was limited to just five games last season because of a shoulder injury, but Rob Pelinka said he is now fully healthy and fully cleared to play.
  • Doncic said the Lakers’ roster construction — “Re-signing Austin, putting together a trade to acquire Walker Kessler, and then building out our team with young players that could dribble-pass-shoot, and have brought the average age of our roster to around 26 or 27, which lines up so perfectly with building a team around Luka Doncic” — reflects the direction the franchise wants to go.
  • The Lakers are counting on that combination to work while also asking Reaves to carry more of the offense and more of the responsibility that comes with being one of the team’s primary voices.
  • The Lakers have talent, but their new identity depends on whether the players at the center of it can keep meeting the physical demands that come with the jobs they have been given.