Let’s take a look at the Los Angeles Lakers 2023-2024 Season Recap/Review. For the 2023-2024 season, the Lakers had another mediocre year with a record of 47 wins - 35 losses, finishing the season in 7th place (originally 8th but won their Play-in Tournament game) in the Western Conference (3rd in the Pacific Division). They went 28-14 at home and 19-21 on the road. They averaged 118 point per game (2nd most in West), and allowed 117.4 point per game. With that record, they finished the season in 8th place and played the New Orleans Pelicans in the Play-in Tournament which they won and clinched the 7th seed. They played the defending champions, Denver Nuggets, in the 1st round of the playoffs, losing the series 4-1. They were eliminated by the Nuggets for the 2nd year in a row. One main achievement was the Lakers winning the first ever NBA In-Season Tournament, going undefeated (perfect 7–0 record) but ultimately didn't mean anything. A team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell on paper looked great but lost in the 1st round. Let's take a 2023-2024 season review on the LA Lakers.
Head Coach: Darvin Ham (2nd year), fired
General Manager: Rob Pelinka (7th year)
President: Jeanie Buss (11th year)
Lakers roster review:
The Lakers rolled with 21 different players playing this season for them.
GUARDS -
The Guards for the Lakers were pretty solid for the regular season but a bit absent in the playoffs. Lets take a took to see who served as Guards:
First, D'Angelo Russell served as the Lakers primary Point Guard. He finished his 2nd straight season with the Lakers, 4th overall when he played for the Lakers earlier in his career. Russell got off to a slow start to start the year but started to look really nice mid-season and towards the end of the season. In 76 games this season, he started 69, averaged 18 PPG, 6.3 AST per game, 3.1 REB per game, 0.9 STL per game, 2.1 Turnovers per game, 32.7 Minutes per game, shot 41.5% from three, 45.6 FG% overall. In the postseason, however, he was much worse and shot poorly; averaged 14.2 PPG, 4.2 AST per game, 2.8 REB per game, 36.8 Minutes per game, shot 31.8% from three, 38.4 FG% overall. In Game 3 of the playoffs, he scored 0 points and went 0-7. This off-season he does have a Player Option (deadline 6/29/24) but if he declines he will be a free agent.
Austin Reaves started most of the season at shooting guard. He started 57 of 82 games, playing every game this season. Reaves was pretty nice for the Lakers as a shooting guard and did his job almost every night. In 82 games this season, he averaged 15.9 PPG, 5.5 AST per game, 4.3 REB per game, 0.8 STL per game, 2.1 Turnovers per game, 32.1 Minutes per game, shot 36.7% from three, 48.6 FG% overall. In the postseason, he was similar averaging 16.8 PPG, 3.6 AST per game, 3.8 REB per game, 34.8 Minutes per game, shot 26.9% from three, 47.6 FG% overall. Reaves could have been better shooting threes but overall, had a nice season.
Max Christie completed his 2nd NBA season with the Lakers as a Guard. Christie got a fair amount of minutes towards the beginning of the season but in the last few months of the season he got minimal minutes. Mostly because there was not too much need for him and that he is not quite ready for big NBA minutes. In 67 games this season (starting 7), he averaged 4.2 PPG, 0.9 AST per game, 2.1 REB per game, 0.5 Turnovers per game, 14.1 Minutes per game, shot 35.6% from three, 42.7 FG% overall. He did not see anytime in the Postseason this year. Christie, 21, is still young and his time may come for the Lakers soon.
Gabe Vincent completed his first year as a Laker and it was quite disappointing. He missed most of the season due to knee injury and when he did play, there was not much noise from him. In just 11 games this season, he averaged 3.1 PPG, 1.9 AST per game, 0.8 REB per game, 0.8 STL per game, 0.5 Turnovers per game, 19.8 Minutes per game, shot 10.7% from three, 30.6 FG% overall. Not good. In the postseason, he was no better averaging 1.4 PPG, 0.6 AST per game, 1.6 REB per game, 13.8 Minutes per game, shot 14.3% from three, 25.0 FG% overall. Gabe Vincent was really nice for the Miami Heat when he played for them so it was surely an off year due to the injury. Let's hope he's better next year.
Jalen Hood-Schifino was the Lakers 1st round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He saw some NBA time but not much and in March he had a season-ending injury. In 21 games this season, Hood-Schifino averaged 1.6 PPG, 0.4 AST per game, 0.6 REB per game, 0.4 Turnovers per game, 5.2 Minutes per game, shot 13.3% from three, 22.2 FG% overall. Hood-Schifino will have his time in the future.
Spencer Dinwiddie signed with the Lakers in February after he was waived by Toronto. He served as the Lakers back-up point guard for the 2nd half of the season. In 28 games this season with the Lakers (starting 4), he averaged 6.8 PPG, 2.4 AST per game, 1.7 REB per game, 1.0 Turnovers per game, 24.2 Minutes per game, shot 38.9% from three, 39.7 FG% overall. In the postseason, he averaged 3.0 PPG, 1.6 AST per game, 1.4 REB per game, 14.6 Minutes per game, shot 25% from three, 35.7 FG% overall. Dinwiddie will be a free agent this off-season so it will be interesting to see if the Lakers bring him back.
Skylar Mays is on a two-way deal with the Lakers and saw some time. He played 17 games averaging 1.3 points per game. He'll be a restricted free agent.
Other guards that played this year for the Lakers included Dylan Windler and D'Moi Hodge but made little impact to the team and no longer play for the Lakers.
FORWARDS -
This position was obviously the Lakers strongest. Other than LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they had some solid Forwards. So lets see who they were.
First off, the one and only LeBron James. In Year 21 he is still playing like he is in his prime and he was the oldest player in the league. James was an All-Star this year for the 20th time in his career and an NBA In-Season Tournament MVP. I'm sure he will get more awards when they get announced. On November 21, he became the first player in league history to reach 39,000 career points. I'm sure he beat a whole bunch of other records this season but that goes to show LeBron is unreal. At 39, in 71 games this season (starting all), he averaged 25.7 PPG, 8.3 AST per game, 7.3 REB per game, 1.3 STL per game, 3.5 Turnovers per game (3rd most in NBA), 35.3 Minutes per game, shot 41% from three, 54 FG% overall. In the postseason, he was similar averaging 27.8 PPG, 8.8 AST per game, 6.8 REB per game, 40.8 Minutes per game, shot 38.5% from three, 56.6 FG% overall. What an insane player. Unfortunately, this can be LeBron's last year as a Laker. He has a 2024-25 Player Option (deadline 6/29/24). As his son, Bronny James, declared for this year's draft and LeBron wanting to play with his son, he may leave the Lakers to wherever Bronny goes. We'll see.
Rui Hachimura spent a lot of the season starting for the Lakers in this position and he had a nice year. He started 39 of 68 games this season. Hachimura averaged 13.6 PPG, 1.2 AST per game, 4.3 REB per game, 0.7 Turnovers per game, 26.8 Minutes per game, shot 42.2% from three, 53.7 FG% overall. In the postseason, he averaged 7.8 PPG, 0.8 AST per game, 3.8 REB per game, 30.4 Minutes per game, shot 35.7% from three, 39.5 FG% overall. Not too bad. He will be back next season under contract.
Taurean Prince completed his first year as a Laker this year. Towards the beginning of the season, he started a lot of games but was then replaced by Hachimura. Prince averaged 8.9 PPG, 1.5 AST per game, 2.9 REB per game, 0.9 Turnovers per game, 27 Minutes per game, shot 39.6% from three, 44.2 FG% overall. In the postseason, he averaged 7.4 PPG, 0.6 AST per game, 2.4 REB per game, 22.2 Minutes per game, shot 29.4% from three, 41.4 FG% overall. Not bad for a role player. Prince will be a free agent this off-season.
Cam Reddish completed his first year as a Laker. Reddish had his fair share of injuries this year and only played 48 games, starting 26. Reddish played a Forward and Guard role. Reddish averaged 5.4 PPG, 1.0 AST per game, 2.1 REB per game, 0.6 Turnovers per game, 20.5 Minutes per game, shot 33.6% from three, 38.9 FG% overall. Reddish did not play the postseason due to injury. He has a Player Option to return next season.
Jarred Vanderbilt completed his 2nd year as a Laker and it was a bit disappointing. This was primary due to the injuries he had this season, heel, back, and foot issues. As a result, he only played 29 games, starting 6. He is a good defensive player that the Lakers needed. Vanderbilt averaged 5.2 PPG, 1.2 AST per game, 4.8 REB per game, 1.2 STL per game, 1.0 Turnovers per game, 20.0 Minutes per game, shot 29.6% from three, 51.8 FG% overall. Vanderbilt did not play the postseason due to injury. Let's hope next year is less injury-related.
Maxwell Lewis was the Lakers 2nd round draft pick from last years draft. He did get a small taste of the NBA but very little. Lewis played 34 games, averaging 3 minutes per game.
Alex Fudge was a G League Player who also played a few games with the Lakers but did not have too much of an impact.
CENTERS -
The Center position was a huge strength for the Lakers primarily because of Anthony Davis. But the Lakers had some nice backups as well.
First off, Anthony Davis served as the Lakers primary Center for most of the season. Davis was seen as an injury-prone player but actually played 76 regular season games this year, a career high. He was arguably the Lakers best player this season offensively and defensively. Davis was also an All-Star for the 9th time in his career and will probably receive more awards when they're announced. This season he averaged 24.7 PPG, 3.5 AST per game, 12.6 REB per game, 1.2 STL per game, 2.3 BLK per game (4th in NBA), 2.1 Turnovers per game, 35.5 Minutes per game, shot 27.1% from three, 55.6 FG% overall. In the postseason, he was similar averaging 27.8 PPG, 4.0 AST per game, 15.6 REB per game, 41.6 Minutes per game, 1.6 BLK per game, 63.4 FG% overall. What a player.
Christian Wood completed his first year as a Laker. Wood came off the bench primarily as the backup Center. Unfortunately, he also dealt with injury and had season-ending knee surgery in March. Wood played 50 games for the Lakers starting 1. He averaged 6.9 PPG, 1.0 AST per game, 5.1 REB per game, 1.0 Turnovers per game, 17.4 Minutes per game, shot 30.7% from three, 46.6 FG% overall. Wood has a 2024-25 Player Option (deadline 6/29/2024) this offseason.
Jaxson Hayes completed his first year as a Laker being one of the back-up Centers. He averaged 4.3 PPG, 0.5 AST per game, 3.0 REB per game, 0.6 Turnovers per game, 12.5 Minutes per game, and had a 72 FG% overall. In the postseason, he only saw 23 minutes total and scored only 1 point. Hayes has a 2024-25 Player Option (deadline 6/29/24).
Harry Giles III signed a two-way contract with the Lakers back in March. He got minimal playing time and had low stats.
Colin Castleton was another Center signed to a two-way contract. He also got minimal playing time and had low stats.
So, that's everybody who played at least 1 game for the Lakers this season. The roster looked good on paper but it was only good enough to finish 7th seed and lose in the 1st round. Coaching was part of the Lakers failure and perhaps General Management. Many believe that Darvin Ham was to blame this season but who knows. He didn't have good substitution patterns and rotation was odd. The Lakers team is solid right now with the players they have, they just need a better coach to guide them. They started off the season very slow and spent most the season around the 9th-10th area and did not start to play well until the final 15-20 games.
Lakers players who can leave this summer:
Spencer Dinwiddie (Unrestricted FA)
Taurean Prince (Unrestricted FA)
Colin Castleton (Restricted FA)
Max Christie (Restricted FA)
Skylar Mays (Restricted FA)
LeBron James (Player Option to stay)
D'Angelo Russell (Player Option to stay)
Jaxson Hayes (Player Option to stay)
Christian Wood (Player Option to stay)
What is next for the Lakers?
Well, they fired Darvin Ham so they need a new coach. They will have to really look into what the next coach can do. It also depends if LeBron picks up his player option and depends if D'Angelo Russell picks up his option. Any of those moves can make or break next season. When the Lakers get a new coach, coaching style and team play will be different next season. If LeBron goes, Lakers will have $51.4 million to spend. If D'Angelo goes, the Lakers have $18.7 million to spend and find a new Point Guard. While the decision on LeBron and D'Angelo will come in late June. In July, Free Agency will begin and by then we should know the direction the Lakers will take. One thing for sure is that they cannot get off to a slow start like they did this season. A great start and maintaining a good record will surely keep the Lakers at a high seed next year.
So there you have it. That's a quick recap of the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2023-2024 season. See you next season!
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