\nLeBron James of the Lakers during a 135\u2013117 loss to the Hornets at Crypto.com Arena on Jan. 15, 2026 in LA,. Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
For the Lakers, it was their fourth loss in five games, with two of those losses coming this week against opponents near the bottom of their conference, including the 12th-place Hornets and the 14th-place Kings on Monday.<\/p>\n
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It drove home one big point: The Lakers need help.<\/p>\n
Luka Don\u010di\u0107 has 39 points, four assists and three rebounds. LeBron James has 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists. But that was not enough.<\/p>\n
No other Laker scored 20 points. And no Laker can stop the Hornets’ shooting which, in addition to Ball, included the brilliant Brandon Miller (26 points) and Miles Bridges (25 points).<\/p>\n
The Lakers need better perimeter defense and need scoring help, especially with Austin Reaves sidelined with a calf strain.<\/p>\n
Even though the Lakers tied their worst skid of the year with their recent speed bump, Lakers coach JJ Redick remains optimistic.<\/p>\n
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“I thought we fought,” Redick said. “Just another team having a hot night of shooting.”<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nLakers’ Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is fouled by the Hornets’ Sion James and Moussa Diabat\u00e9 in the first half at Crypto.com Arena on Jan. 15, 2026 in LA. Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Redick was similarly optimistic after the Lakers’ 124\u2013112 loss to the Kings on Monday, in which they shot 65.4 percent to 22.2 percent from the 3-point line, respectively.<\/p>\n
“We can’t shoot,” he said, before pointing out that in the last seven games the Lakers were “one of the best defenses in the league.”<\/p>\n
It was a stark contrast to how he responded to the Lakers’ three-game losing streak three weeks ago, which ended with Houston’s 119-96 loss on Christmas. An angry Redick came to his team after that contest, saying, “We don’t really care about winning” and “I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”<\/p>\n
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So, either Redick believes there is an element of care in the Lakers’ recent skid, or he’s showing more restraint, both of which are likely true.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nLakers forward Jake LaRavia and Don\u010di\u0107 react against the Hornets in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
On Thursday, the Lakers led by 13 points before a terrible second quarter in which they were outscored, 34-16. The Lakers fought back to cut the deficit to six points in the fourth quarter, but Ball went on a 3-point streak, making four of his five shots from that point.<\/p>\n
It’s no secret that the Lakers will get a lot of effort from other teams every night, and at the moment it shows a lot of their weaknesses, which should be carefully monitored as the trade deadline of Feb. 5 is approaching.<\/p>\n
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As for the Hornets, it’s clear that this is a game they circle on their calendar.<\/p>\n
“These guys grew up watching LeBron James play,” said Redick. “The Lakers, like the Celtics, are arguably the most respected team in sports. We say it as a team. I think all the guys know we don’t get a lot of time off other teams in terms of energy and getting up and all that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As LaMelo Ball sat next to his locker, he broke into a dance, unfurling his arms and shaking his shoulders while smiling. He had just scored 27 of his 30 points in the second half, leading the Hornets to a 135-117 win over the Lakers on Thursday, including making nine 3-pointers. LeBron James of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2631,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions\/2631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}