LOS ANGELES — When JJ Redick left behind his life talking about the NBA to coach in it, he said he wanted to scratch a competitive itch, to once again feel the comradery of a team and to stimulate his brain by engaging in high-stakes problem-solving.

Truly, the Lakers are the perfect job.

Thursday in the league’s top Christmas matchup, he and the Lakers collectively felt the sting from a humiliating loss. Against the Rockets, the Lakers played like their uniforms were made of lead and their shoes constructed of iron.

They’ve looked old and slow and gravitationally challenged throughout the first 28 games of the season, but those problems — coupled with a new one — made Christmas feel like a day the Lakers could remember for the wrong reasons.

Austin Reaves left Thursday’s 119-96 loss to Houston with another left calf strain, this one needing an MRI on Friday. Considering he’d just returned six quarters earlier from a three-game absence, the Lakers need to be preparing for a longer absence than that.

The injury to Reaves, the Lakers’ 10th loss of the year — all coming by double figures — the reminders that they look unathletic in a pro sport where athleticism is most blatantly displayed and mounting frustration with a lack of energy and effort overflowed and spilled into postgame comments from Redick where he questioned his team’s desire.

“We don’t care enough right now,” he said in as damning of a six-word sentence as a coach can deliver. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”

Redick’s frustrations were impossible to ignore. After emphasizing that the Lakers needed to try and keep Houston off the glass, the Rockets outhustled the Lakers to loose balls on their first two possessions. Repeatedly, Houston sprinted past the Lakers in transition, who were either too tired to run or too pre-occupied with the officials to engage in transition defense.

They were pushed around, too timid on defense and too passive on of offense.

“The two words of the day were effort and execution,” Redick said. “And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level we’ve been a good basketball team, when we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started, legitimately, right away.”

It was so bad on Thursday, the Lakers third-straight blowout loss where they hardly were ever in the game, that after losing to the Rockets, Redick vowed an “uncomfortable” film session and practice on Saturday, where all the tough truths will be told.

“I’m not doing another 53 games like this,” he said defiantly.

Final pic.twitter.com/1XqNDRQOUr

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 26, 2025

He might not have a choice. As the Lakers enter the post-Christmas portion of the season, they’re flailing, trying to grab ahold of solutions that no one seems to have a grip on. Maybe that’s why multiple players, LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimuira, all declined to speak. Or maybe, even worse, the answers aren’t complicated and the Lakers are still screwing it up.

“We basically got the answers to test — just play hard, be physical, get back in transition,” Jarred Vanderbilt said. “Like we know what we need to do. So at this point, you just gotta do it.”

But again, there’s a major different between a team that plays hard and physical as a default setting and one that has to concentrate on doing those things. Doing the latter, which the Lakers have had to all season, certainly explains the inconsistencies. If you have to be prodded into that kind of energy, it certainly won’t be there every night you need it.

“This has kind of been the trending thing even when we were winning,” Vanderbilt said. “Obviously wins kinda shadow a lot of stuff. but it’s been the same pretty much all year — how we finished games, lose games, and transition defense, rebounding and stuff like that. It’s been a trend all year, but obviously when you’re winning it shadows that.”

Beyond that, a handful of other issues are becoming clearer — maybe some that had been hidden behind the Lakers’ 19-10 start.

Luka’s infectiousness

Any questions about energy in regards to the Lakers need to be pointed to Luka Dončić, who is the unquestioned conductor for the Lakers on the court. Privately, he’s more of a counter-puncher, the kind of person with a quick-witted comeback more than someone willing to drive full-on conversation. But on the court, there’s no deference. The Lakers, like the Mavericks and the Slovenian National Team and every other team he’s led that way, go as Dončić goes.

It doesn’t take seeing Lakers governor Jeanie Buss sitting courtside in a Dončić jersey — like she did on Christmas evening — to know that if he’s playing well, the Lakers are probably playing well.

And he’s struggling right now. Over his last six games, Dončić is averaging 29.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists, but he’s doing it inefficiently on 41.2 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three. In the first 17 games of his season, the scoring average was at 35 on 47.2-33.5-81.0 splits.

“I don’t know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change,” he said after Thursday’s loss. “Think we (were) blown out the last three games. It definitely looks terrible. We got to figure out, that’s the thing we have (to do). That’s what — we just got to talk about it. Everybody got to talk about it. I know JJ said it’s going to be uncomfortable. As it should be.”

Here’s an uncomfortable stat — the Lakers have been out-scored by 50 points with Dončić on the court in his last five games, all ending with a negative plus-minus. When things are going well — and they have been for much of the year — Dončić should be credited with being a low-maintenance superstar that can balance competitiveness with light-heartedness, making the Lakers a pretty good place to work.

But when it’s bad, it’s got to be on him too.

In a perfect world, the Lakers would have more room on the margins to give some cushion to Dončić on the nights when he doesn’t quite have it. But it’s clear that those margins are thin, especially on the defensive end, where he’s been inconsistent.

Uncharted territory with LeBron James

As LeBron James turns 41 years old next week, the phrase “uncharted territory” is sure to be used by Redick and the Lakers like it has been for much of his record 23rd NBA season. But the thing about that phrasing that is a little confusing is that so much of James’ time with the Lakers has sort of been happening in uncharted territory, with no player ever this age or this experienced still producing at the highest levels.

But 13 games into this season, it does feel like some kind of threshold has been crossed. After two-plus decades of being the biggest, strongest and most athletic on the court most of the time, other teams and players are catching up.

James has made some strides since his initial return to the lineup, but he still hasn’t quite found his footing.

After trading Anthony Davis for Dončić, the Lakers still put an above average defense on the court — largely thanks to James’ smarts and activity marrying in ways that made their team defense hum. He — and this team — aren’t close to being there yet.

Lebron James is yet to find his footing since his return. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

Where are the banshees?

Redick loved the identity his team took on as the season went on, lovingly calling his role players “banshees” for their relentless effort to play hard. Players like Dorian Finney-Smith, Jordan Goodwin and two-way big Trey Jemison III were tough as hell, and if you were on the court with them and not at that level, it showed.

Currently, by Redick’s admission, the Lakers don’t have anyone like this. Marcus Smart plays physical defense, but for whatever reason, it hasn’t been an identifying trait of the roster. Jake LaRavia, by and large, has played with effort on the defensive end, and Vanderbilt, especially as of late, has given them some energy.

But night to night, the Lakers just don’t have enough guys who have no choice but to play recklessly hard.

“We know that what’s going on out there is just not really how we want to play, how we’re supposed to be playing,” LaRavia said Thursday. “It’s the same thing I say every time we get in a press conference. It’s effort and it’s physicality. And if we’re not consistent with that, then this is what the game is going to look like. But we know the key of winning games and we’ve done it. It’s just the effort and the consistency isn’t there every night.”

It’s such a glaring need — it’s why, despite the 19 wins Lakers basketball currently pairs with the trade machine like a smooth cabernet compliments a medium rare prime rib. If you’re watching the Lakers without wondering how they’d look with a pedal-to-the-floor defender on the perimeter with a plus-motor, then I’d say you’re not really watching the Lakers.

Can they win without Reaves?

And, maybe most dangerously, the Lakers probably should be bracing themselves to be without Reaves for a decent amount of time — a stretch certainly longer than the three games he missed when he strained his left calf two weeks ago.

Sources told The Athletic that Reaves will undergo an MRI on the injury Friday, the results threatening to change the composition of the roster on the court and the personality of it off the floor.

Without him on the court, the Lakers move down to just Dončić as a primary creator unless they unleash James in that role, a more high-impact job that could work against some of the health goals for the soon-to-be 41-year-old. Without him off the court, the Lakers lose their most vocal leader, a player with the respect to touch all corners of the team’s locker room because of his path from undrafted rookie to possible All-Star.

Of the problems, this could end up being the biggest. Dončić, likely, will get back on track. James will find a better rhythm, uncharted territories or not. The front office can scour the league for role players with the right attitudes. And the (healthy) players can channel more force and focus more regularly — at least to the standard set early in the season. The health of a star, though, is another thing all together.

Thursday, as he wrapped his postgame press conference, Redick was asked about giving some type of ultimatum to his team — the ultimate threat, the “do-it-my-way-or-else.”

“We’ve given everybody a chance,” he said.

He didn’t sound totally defeated. No, Redick just sounded like someone who knew the answer wasn’t yet in sight.