Coaches Shred Lakers for Key Weakness in Latest Team Meeting

Dec 5, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick signals to his players during the first half against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Lakers coaches didn't hold back in holding their players accountable during a Friday morning team meeting, per a new report from Khobi Price of The Orange County Register.

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After a 14-5 season start, the Lakers have dropped three of their last five games, and are now 17-7 on the year. Per Price, JJ Redick's staff called out the team for its defensive issues. Across their last 10 contests, the Lakers have posted a miserable 120.9 defensive rating, good for just 27th among the NBA's 30 squads.

Three-time All-Defensive Team guard Marcus Smart, who even after a litany of injuries has emerged as his new club's best player, explained how the team plans to re-center defense, especially with its second-leading scorer in Austin Reaves down for at least the next week. Reaves has a mild calf strain.

'Control What We Can Control'

“My motto, we know: Control what we can control,” Smart said. “And this is a perfect example of it. Lose three out of five, guy goes down; what are you gonna do? We saw the problem. We know the problem. We not focused on the problem. Let’s focus on the solution, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Smart applauded the team's tape-watching time for how instructive it proved to be in pinpointing the Lakers' weaknesses defensively. LA has trouble containing quick guards, formerly Smart's purview. As he's aged, he's become a bit more limited in covering fast point guards especially, although the 6-foot-3 Oklahoma State product can still stick with bigger guards and small forwards.

“It exposed us a lot, which we already knew,” Smart said of the team’s recent film sessions. “We were just winning a lot of games. We have to be able to guard. The scouting report against us is we’re not guarding people. And if we want to be great in this league and do what we’re trying to do, you have to be able to guard, especially in the West.

“It wasn’t no sugarcoating anything. It was, ‘This is what we got to do.’ We’ve been asked, let’s fix it.”

Redick was careful to publicly praise the defensive practices that have been working in game situations.

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“We’ve taken charges. That’s been good, that’s been a positive,” Redick said. “In the last 10 games, we’ve just completely lost our fundamental. The last two days in practice have been great. The guys have been great with how they’ve responded to our meeting [on Friday]. Doesn’t mean we’re gonna come out [on Sunday] and play amazing defense, but we gotta … this is my job."

The second-year head coach remains surprisingly bullish on his team's upside on the defensive end of the floor.

“I’m not gonna just say, ‘Oh, we’re not gonna be a good defensive team.’ No," Redick continued. "We’re gonna scrap and claw and do everything we can to turn us into a good defensive team.”

The Lakers will next square up against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.

For more news and notes on the Los Angeles Lakers, visit Los Angeles Lakers on SI.