After saying goodbye to LeBron James (more like he said bye to them), the Los Angeles Lakers’ objective to build around Luka Dončić is clear. Some might say it’s what the Lakers should have done from the moment they acquired the Slovenian basketball icon in 2025.
Nevertheless, LA is all-in on its current core. The group, led by Dončić, the new $184.8 million man in Austin Reaves, and blockbuster sign-and-trade acquisition Walker Kessler, is locked under contract through at least the 2027-28 campaign. The following season, Dončić holds a $57.4 million player option that he can either exercise to remain alongside Reaves and Kessler or decline to enter free agency.
Kessler didn’t just arrive via trade, in which LA sent out two unprotected first-round picks plus two pick swaps; he also landed a massive $130 million contract. Add it all up, and the Lakers are quite committed to what some might call their new Big 3.
But did they go too far? Should the Lakers have really committed to this group of players instead of keeping their options open?
NBA Analyst Thinks Lakers Wrecked Their Roster
While it’s not hard to feel optimistic about finally getting a legitimate center who can offer rim protection like the 7-foot-2 Kessler provides, his game is also limited offensively. Didn’t the Lakers already try this with Deandre Ayton?
As such, some, including NBA analyst Zach Lowe, believe the Lakers have painted themselves into a dark corner that will be difficult to escape in the cutthroat Western Conference.
“They look like a team that has next to no chance to beat the [Oklahoma City] Thunder and [San Antonio] Spurs in a playoff series in the next two to three years, and almost no outs at all to change their team, other than trading Austin Reaves in two years when this doesn’t work out,” Lowe said Thursday. “… This is an unbelievable reach for Walker Kessler.”
Zach Lowe on the current Lakers roster:
“They look like a team that has next to no chance to beat the Thunder and Spurs in a playoff series in the next 2-3 years, and almost no outs at all to change their team, other than trading Austin Reaves in 2 years when this doesn’t work… pic.twitter.com/YPNb62GJLH
— NBA Base (@TheNBABase) July 2, 2026
Time will tell whether the 24-year-old Kessler, along with his new Lakers teammates, can prove skeptics like Lowe wrong.
After achieving back-to-back 50-win seasons with LeBron James and Dončić leading the way, we’ll see whether the new roster is actually improved or just an expensive attempt at finding a fix in Lakerland.
