Lakers vs Spurs Postgame Thoughts: Lakers Got Schlacked by Spurs Without Their Top 5 Players
The Lakers got blown out by the San Antonio Spurs, 136-108. We'll go over the good performances by the Lakers' bench players, as well as some concerning behavior from Coach JJ Redick.
The Lakers got completely massacred by the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. With the Lakers being down their 5 best players in Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Marcus Smart, and Deandre Ayton, the Lakers stood no chance against the fully healthy San Antonio Spurs. Victor Wembanyama lit the Lakers up for 40-12 in just 26 minutes, recording the fastest 30-point game in NBA history in 13 minutes. De’Aaron Fox took 7 shots all night but was still a +30 in his minutes. The Lakers just had no answer all night to the Spurs’ offense despite decent offensive performances from their remaining guys.
Even with this being a decisive loss, I was still quite impressed by a few of the Lakers’ younger players, and unfortunately worried by the attitude of coach JJ Redick in his post-game interview. We’ll jump right in and cover the good and the ugly from the Lakers vs Spurs matchup.
Takeaway #1: Solid Showing From LA’s Young Talent
I want to take the time to highlight the standout performers from the Lakers in this game, being Bronny James, Adou Thiero, and Drew Timme. Bronny was the best Lakers on the floor tonight with a really nice 12 points, 6 assists to only 2 turnovers, and shot 50% from the field and 2/2 from 3. He looked extremely poised when handling the ball and more confident than he looked earlier in the season, like the Milwaukee game, where he was very visibly nervous to handle the ball. It’s really Bronny’s playmaking, especially where he shines the most, as he seems to have been gifted the same vision and court awareness that his father, LeBron, has himself. It’s great to see Bronny develop more, and I’m confident he will be a key rotation player for this team sooner than later.
The next Laker I want to highlight is Adou Thiero. This was Adou’s first game since December 30th, with the knee injuries he had been dealing with all season giving him a lot of trouble up to this point. In this game, Thiero showcased why the Lakers traded up for him in the 2025 NBA draft. He had 3 points and 1 block in just 10 minutes of action, and was the one Laker with a positive plus-minus, being a +10 on the evening. His one made shot was an incredible lob jam from Bronny, really showcasing his athletic value to the team. I see a lot of great potential from Adou as a 2-way wing with his athleticism, great length, and size. As long as Adou can stay healthy and develop his offense, I feel great about him moving forward.
The last Laker I wanted to shoutout for this game was Drew Timme for his offensive consistency. Timme had a clean 14-2 on 5/8 shooting and 2/3 from 3. Timme has a poise to his offensive game where he can make shots off the catch, but also has an array of post and quick decision turns and hooks he can do to consistently get good scoring opportunities. Timme brings a lot of great offensive upside to the team, and as long as he can defend at an average level, I would love for him to get more playing time.
Takeaway #2: JJ Redick, I Am Officially Concerned.
JJ Redick’s entire coaching personality seems to be intense and a nerd about the game of basketball at the same time. For his entire tenure for the most part, I thought it was a good trait to be a hard coach that doesn’t take any smack from the players, whilst being experimental and being wacky with his ideas. Last year, it had worked out great with the switching defense in the second half of the season, and in general, he adapted well to the very turbulent changes of last year.
However, there is one area that has been a knawing concern with him as a head coach, even since year 1, JJ Redick does not trust younger players enough. After this game against the Spurs, JJ barely had anything good to highlight from the Lakers’ young deep bench guys, choosing to be hard on the team for their defensive execution rather than the young talent of his that played hard late.
JJ spent more time discussing the Lakers’ botching their defensive game plan coming into this game and praising Victor Wembanyama than highlighting how Bronny James played when he was asked about it. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me, as this entire season, JJ seems so averse to giving his younger players time to play, grow, and develop, despite the Lakers’ desperate need to be more athletic and have more energy. Redick devoted more gametime to Gabe Vincent, who was terrible all season with no real upside, rather than let Bronny play more meaningful games when he single-handedly won a few games this season for LA, such as the 2nd game against the Blazers this season.
After Redick last year did such a good job at helping instill Max Christie the confidence he needed to break out as a real NBA player, seeing him deny that same treatment to Bronny after he’s shown real signs of improving on both ends is frankly inexcusable to me. Bronny has real, genuine upside this team could desperately use right now, such as playmaking, ball handling, shooting, and perimeter defense. JJ needs to allow him to grow into a role where he can help the team and not just bury him in the garbage time section of the Lakers’ roster. If JJ won’t change his mindset about his players and continues with his brash, rude, and very analytical approach to coaching, then I think he isn’t the right coach for the team moving forward.
The loss against the Spurs was a weird, fun, and exhausting one. The Lakers got absolutely throttled by the Spurs’ actual rotation players, and it was by far the worst 1st half of the season, but the 2nd half with the garbage time players was genuinely pretty fun, and I liked what I saw on the floor. I hope JJ will change his view on the back-end rotation guys like Bronny and Adou so they can grow and get better, so they can help the team in the future. I hope you enjoyed this article! Please be sure to leave a like, subscribe, and comment your thoughts on the Lakers vs Spurs game. Up next is the Lakers vs Mavericks preview.