Lakers’ hot start couldn’t hide glaring weakness, and it was just exposed

That didn’t last long.

For three glorious games, the Lakers looked like they had discovered the secret to winning basketball in 2026: score so many points on offense that nobody notices you can’t stop anybody on defense.

Through their first three games of the NBA season, Luka Doncic was putting up MVP numbers. Austin Reaves was playing like an All-Star and the perfect No. 2 scoring option alongside Doncic. Walker Kessler looked like the trade of the century, catching alley-oops, protecting the rim and putting up numbers at center the Lakers haven’t seen since Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal.

Then the Trail Blazers came to town Tuesday night and delivered a 136-129 reality check that exposed the same glaring weakness everyone worried about before the season began.

The Lakers still can’t defend the perimeter, and no amount of offensive fireworks can hide that fact forever.

Portland shot a ridiculous 59% from the field, buried 18 of 36 3-pointers and scored at least 32 points in every quarter. The Blazers didn’t just exploit the Lakers’ defense, they made them look like traffic cones on the court during a shootaround. 

“We got broken down a lot,” Lakers coach JJ Redick admitted afterward. “The game-plan discipline, KYP [Know Your Personnel] discipline wasn’t where it needs to be.”

Ja Morant repeatedly sliced through Los Angeles’ perimeter defenders, forcing help rotations that left shooters open. Deni Avdija scored at will, including behind the arc for 23 points. Jrue Holiday added 22. Damian Lillard reminded everyone in attendance at Crypto.com Arena that “Dame Time” is still alive and well, delivering dagger after dagger in the fourth quarter, including the game-clinching basket with 43 seconds remaining.

Frankly, the Lakers had no answers for the Trail Blazers’ offense.

And that should concern Redick considerably more than his team’s first loss.

Through four games, Los Angeles averaged 128.2 points, second in the NBA, with an offensive rating of 126.8. But its defensive rating of 118.8 ranks 23rd.

Those numbers tell the story of a team capable of winning 50 games while possessing the same defensive vulnerability that could send them home early in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Make no mistake, these Lakers are going to win plenty of basketball games this season. Assuming reasonable health, another 50-win season and a top-four seed in the Western Conference is entirely realistic.

But there’s a drastic difference between being an entertaining team throughout the season and being an actual threat to compete for a championship.

Doncic scored 41 points against Portland, following his spectacular 52-point performance in Utah. Reaves contributed 26. Yet the Lakers still lost because their opponents were getting whatever shots they wanted.

“We had a lot of blown assignments. It was everybody, it wasn’t just one person,” Reaves said. “I made some bad defensive mistakes. You could go around the room. So, [we] gotta be better.”

You cannot ask Doncic to score 40 every night just to compensate for teammates who cannot stay in front of their assignments.

Last season, Redick did his best with the roster he had by increasing energy and effort and switching to a zone defense at various points during the year. Honestly, it was amazing the Lakers won their first-round matchup in the playoffs with the Rockets considering their defensive inefficiencies and being without Doncic and Reaves.

This season, the problem isn’t effort alone. It’s once again about personnel.

The Lakers lack sufficient lateral quickness along the perimeter. When opposing guards penetrate, defenders collapse, rotations become scrambled and shooters find themselves with enough daylight to start a vegetable garden.

That leaves Kessler cleaning up everyone else’s mess.

The 7-footer has been outstanding, but he’s being asked to protect the rim, contest drives, cover defensive breakdowns and somehow recover quickly enough to secure rebounds.

Even the best defensive centers cannot be in two places on the court simultaneously.

“We were breaking down and giving up corner 3s, pull-to-break 3s,” Kessler said. “I pride myself on being the leader on the defense, and I didn’t perform tonight.”

And the Lakers have another problem when it comes to Kessler: Who replaces him when he comes out of the game for a much-needed rest?

Kevon Looney has struggled to provide dependable minutes, leaving Los Angeles dangerously thin behind Kessler. For a center with an injury history, carrying this much defensive responsibility over 82 games is asking for trouble.

Rob Pelinka should already be exploring the trade market for a legitimate backup center rather than waiting until Kessler’s workload becomes a medical concern.

Redick deserves credit for experimenting with defensive schemes, including zone looks last season, but coaching adjustments cannot manufacture foot speed.

First-round pick Cameron Carr, once healthy, possesses the youth, athleticism and defensive potential that this roster desperately needs.

The Baylor product won’t magically solve everything, but he deserves an opportunity to demonstrate whether he can defend NBA guards without requiring three teammates to rescue him.

The Lakers don’t need another scorer. They need somebody who takes pride in preventing one.

Redick said it best after Tuesday’s loss.

“If we score 129 points at home, we should be able to get enough stops to win.”

He’s right. Los Angeles can score with anybody in the NBA. The question is whether it can stop anybody when it matters most. 

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