The Sleeping Giant: Why the Los Angeles Lakers Are Being Overrated Ahead of the Playoffs

I have been watching basketball for 44 years, and I have never seen a team blindly worshipped by the crowd like the Los Angeles Lakers this season. People look at the standings, look at the three big names on the jerseys, and nod: 'This is a championship contender.' But I look at how they move when the ball is not near, and I see a sleeping giant on the other side of the court.

Let's go back to the game against the Denver Nuggets in February. LeBron James scored 28 points, Anthony Davis had 25, and Austin Reaves added 19. The scoreboard said the Lakers won 114-110. But I don't look at the scoreboard. I look at how they left the court. I saw Davis gasping as if he had just run a marathon, I saw LeBron walking toward the tunnel without shaking anyone's hand, and I saw coach Darvin Ham standing there with the face of a man who just survived a car accident. That is not the look of a winning team. That is the look of a team that just escaped.

Context: The Lakers are 5th in the West with a 41-25 record, but their defensive rating (DefRtg) ranks 12th in the league. They have a big three, but they have lost 7 of their last 10 games against teams with a winning percentage above 60%. The crowd says: 'They are saving energy for the playoffs.' I say: 'They are hiding a systemic crack.'

Let me dissect. When the ball is in LeBron's hands, the Lakers are an average team. But when the ball leaves his hands — which happens 62% of the time — they become a terrible team. Their OffRtg without LeBron on the floor is 104.3, worse than the Detroit Pistons. They depend on a 39-year-old man to create everything, and that is not sustainable. I have seen this before. In 2026, I flew to Kazan to watch Germany lose 0-2 to South Korea. The world was shocked, but I was not. I had seen them play 12% fewer vertical passes than in 2026. I had seen their system crack before the first ball was kicked. The Lakers are repeating that.

The tactical blind spot lies in their transition defense. When opponents grab a rebound, the Lakers allow 1.18 points per possession — ranked 22nd in the league. They run back slower than any team in the top 10. I call this the 'sleeping syndrome': they believe their reputation will automatically defend. But basketball does not operate on reputation. Basketball operates on rhythm, on the spaces between lines, on how a team moves when the ball is not near.

I could be wrong. Maybe LeBron will step into the playoffs at a different level, as he has done many times. Maybe Davis will stay healthy, and Reaves will continue to rise. But I have learned that teams that rely on a 'switch' usually do not have a switch. They have a habit, and that habit is ingrained in their bones.

My prediction: The Lakers will be eliminated in the second round, and the crowd will again blame injuries. But I will look at how they leave the court, and I will see a sleeping giant who woke up too late. Three years we chased a ball that seemed unguarded, only to realize what we were chasing was the silence between people's hearts. The Lakers do not lack talent. They lack awareness. And in the playoffs, awareness is the only thing that cannot be bought with money.