JJ Redick used the word “unacceptable” twice after Tuesday night’s 124-98 preseason loss at Golden State. I understand the reaction. I also think the people who should hear it are the ones fighting for rotation spots, and none of them is named Luka Doncic.
Here is what the Lakers rolled out at Chase Center on the second night of a back-to-back. Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler sat. So did Collin Sexton. The starting five, per Jovan Buha’s post and ClutchPoints, was Bronny James, Quentin Grimes, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Golden State played Stephen Curry 14 minutes. The Warriors won the first quarter 45-31, led by 28 at the half and by 21 after three, per Warriors Central.
“The way we started that game was insane,” Redick said, per ClutchPoints. “I don’t know the reasons why, because this group has been awesome for the two months I’ve been around them. It’s unacceptable.” He repeated the word about the first half, then credited the second-half group, saying Thiero and LaRavia “particularly were really good in that stretch.”
My take: the loss says almost nothing about the Lakers who open the season Oct. 21 against these same Warriors. It says plenty about who gets the last two or three rotation spots, and Redick’s message was pointed at that fight.
A preseason score is the wrong scoreboard
Look at who beat them. Yaxel Lendeborg had 17 points and nine rebounds. Brandin Podziemski scored 16. Curry scored 16 in 14 minutes, and Draymond Green had eight assists in 15 minutes, per Warriors Central. Curry finished plus-26 in those 14 minutes and Green plus-25 in his 15, per Warriors Central. Those are the regulars doing their work and leaving. That is a real rotation running real actions against a group that has not played together much.
The starting five Redick sent out is not a lineup he will use in the regular season. Doncic and Reaves are the engine of the team, and Kessler is the center the defense is being rebuilt around. I wrote about that plan in our look at how Kessler ended up a Laker. Take those three out and what is left is a roster-bubble exhibition. Redick calling the group “awesome” tells me he is not worried about the team. He is annoyed the people he is evaluating did not give him a reason to keep them.
That is a fair way to coach. Preseason minutes for the end of the roster are an audition, and an audition that starts 14 points down after one quarter is a bad one.
The second half tells you more than the first
The margins in Warriors Central’s recap lay out the night. Golden State led by 28 at the half and by 21 after three quarters, so the Lakers won the third quarter by seven. The final was 26, which means they lost the fourth by five. Redick said the group that opened the second half got back to its physicality on defense. The scoreboard backs him up for the third quarter, and then the lead grew again in the fourth.
Winning one quarter by seven against Golden State is not a comeback, and I will not pretend it is. It is the response Redick was asking for, from the players he is trying to evaluate.
It also helps to remember what preseason has meant for this franchise. Last October the Lakers went 1-5 in the preseason, then went 53-29 in the regular season, per Heavy. Preseason records told us nothing about that team.
The new guys: what the night did and did not show
Sandro Mamukelashvili started and scored 15, per ClutchPoints. He shot 38.9% from three on 3.7 attempts a game for Toronto last season and averaged 11.2 points in 80 games, per Basketball Reference. A stretch five who can score is exactly the backup Kessler needs, and Tuesday is a small sign the role fits him.
Quentin Grimes had 12 points. He started on the wing alongside Bronny James. Grimes averaged 13.4 points in 75 games for Philadelphia last season on 33.4% from three, per Basketball Reference. He finished with 12 points, per ClutchPoints. His 2025-26 season makes him a rotation wing if he competes on defense.
Jake LaRavia averaged 8.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 25.1 minutes last season, per Basketball Reference, and shot 32.1% from three. Redick singled him out for the second-half response, per ClutchPoints. That is the kind of mention that earns minutes in October.
Bronny James is the one with the most to prove. He averaged 2.9 points in 8.9 minutes over 42 games last season, per Basketball Reference, though he made 38.6% of his threes. He started, and with this many regulars out, that reads as opportunity rather than a promotion.
Adou Thiero was named alongside LaRavia as a reason the second half got better. For a player trying to win a bigger role, a coach praising his physicality is a good week.
What I would watch next
The stakes are real but not yet. The regular season opens Wednesday, Oct. 21, against Golden State, then the Clippers on Oct. 23 and a trip to Utah on Oct. 25, per the Basketball Reference schedule. Redick has two weeks to settle a rotation.
The Lakers have three preseason games left: Thursday against Sacramento, Oct. 13 against Golden State in Las Vegas and Oct. 16 against Denver. I expect the bubble players to keep getting long looks while the regulars work their way back. These are the things I would track:
- Starts. Whether Redick keeps the same five or rotates, which tells us how much he trusts any of them.
- Grimes’s role. If the defense holds up with the starters back, he is a legitimate wing option.
- Mamukelashvili’s minutes. A backup five who scores matters more than any other bench question.
The Lakers did not need to be good on October 6. They need Redick to have his answers by October 21.