LOS ANGELES – Experience matters in the NBA playoffs, and for the Los Angeles Lakers, they have quite a bit of it. Even with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined indefinitely, Lakers head coach JJ Redick can go down his roster when it comes to experience he can count on.

Prior to Game 1 of the Lakers’ opening round series of the NBA playoffs against the Houston Rockets, JJ Redick stressed that the team has multiple playoff-tested veterans aside from just LeBron James.

“Yeah, well he’s [LeBron] got sort of the ultimate playoff experience given he’s been in 10 Finals, done 20 or so of these things,” Redick said. “DA [Deandre Ayton] has been a starting center in the Finals. Marcus [Smart] has been in the Finals, multiple conference finals, Maxi [Kleber], he’s been in the Finals, in the conference finals. There’s a lot in the group that we can lean on.”

Of course James takes the cake when it comes to playoff experience on the Lakers’ roster. The 41-year-old playing in an unprecedented 23rd season in the NBA, recently tied John Stockton and Karl Malone for the most playoff appearances in league history with 19.

He’s been to the Finals 10 times, winning four championships, three of them with three different teams and has won four Finals MVPs. James holds playoff career averages of 28.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocked shots in 292 postseason games. His playoff shooting averages are 49.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the 3-point line and 74.1 percent from the free-throw line.

But as Redick mentioned, the Lakers have other players to draw on experience from. Deandre Ayton was the starting center on the 2020-21 Phoenix Suns team that reached the NBA Finals. He was in the playoffs in three of his five years with the Suns.

Marcus Smart was in the playoffs every season he was with the Boston Celtics which totaled nine years. He was key player on the Celtics team that made a run to the Finals in 2022.

Maxi Kleber was in the playoffs in four of the seven and a half years he played for the Dallas Mavericks. He was on the Mavericks team that got the NBA Finals in 2024.

And then Redick himself is a veteran of many playoff battles. As a player, he made the playoffs in 13 of his 15 seasons in the league. He was part of the 2009 Orlando Magic that reached the NBA Finals.

While the Lakers might be incredibly short-handed as far as a production standpoint, they feel confident in their overall experience playing a factor in this series against the Rockets.

LOS ANGELES – Experience matters in the NBA playoffs, and for the Los Angeles Lakers, they have quite a bit of it. Even with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined indefinitely, Lakers head coach JJ Redick can go down his roster when it comes to experience he can count on.