The Los Angeles Lakers were not expected to have a good defense when the season began. Being built around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and a 41-year-old LeBron James virtually guaranteed that L.A. would not have any sort of elite defense. However, they were particularly bad through the first long stretch of the year.
Through 46 games, the Lakers had a defensive rating of 117.3. That put them at 25th in the NBA, ahead of only lottery-bound teams like the Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz. But in their last 15 games — since Jan.