Los Angeles Lakers finally had Luka Doncic for their pre-season game and he delivered big time in limited minutes. Still, they lost and head coach JJ Redick is not happy.
Lakers played the Phoenix Suns who decided to sit their top players namely Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green. The former also did not have superstar Lebron James who will also miss the opening night and will be out for a foreseeable time.
Doncic scored 25 points in 22 minutes in the game they lost after overtime, 104-113. Third star Austin Reaves also had 25 points. New Lakers big man DeAndre Ayton had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Over at the depleted Suns, Jared Butler led the way with 35 points and nine assists while Jordan Goodwin had 24 points, four rebounds, and six assists.
Lakers still have two pre-season games left – against the Dallas Mavericks and and the Sacramento Kings- before they head to the T-Mobile Arena to play the Mavs.
JJ Redick thinks they’re going backwards
The Lakers are currently 1-3 in the pre-season and Doncic joining them should have yielded positive results for them. That’s not what Redick saw.
The head coach is especially critical of the groups he played saying they were inconsistent.
“If you wanna be a good team you gotta do it every single time,” he told reporters post-game.
“I don’t think any of the groups tonight were as consistent as they need to be. To me, we took a step forward with some of the defensive stuff from the other night…and we took a step backwards tonight and that’s I think a little bit frustrating.”
JJ Redick:
“I don’t think any of the groups tonight were as consistent as they need to be. To me, we took a step forward with some of the defensive stuff from the other night…and we took a step backwards tonight and that’s I think a little bit frustrating” pic.twitter.com/iYrlkS1B2A
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) October 15, 2025
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