On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers continued their losing ways with a brutal home loss to the Detroit Pistons by a score of 128-106. Any concerns about the Lakers' defense were not quelled with this performance, and it wasn't a great game from LeBron James on his 41st birthday, scoring 17 points in the loss.
Despite their defensive woes, the Lakers still sit at 20-11 on the season, but now, some stats have come to light showing that the team is not actually as good as that record would suggest.
For one, the Lakers actually have a negative point differential on the season, having been outscored by 13 points so far in 2025-26, per Law Murray of The Athletic on X, formerly Twitter.
They've also seen all 11 of their losses this year come by double-digits, including their last three defeats by at least 20 points.
Furthermore, Los Angeles is 10-0 in clutch games this season, defined by the score being within five points with five minutes or less to go. One would surmise that this mark will even out over the course of the year, and some of those close games will stop going the Lakers' way as things continue.
Overall, the Lakers are still a talented team with plenty of firepower when Austin Reaves is in the lineup, although they will have to play the next several weeks without him due to an injury.
Still, concerns about Los Angeles' lack of viable perimeter defenders or frontcourt players have begun to manifest in recent weeks, and fans are starting to wonder whether Rob Pelinka may need to start thinking about a trade to kickstart things for this team.
In any case, the Lakers are next set to take the floor on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies at home. That game is set to ti off at 10:30 pm ET.
