The 2025 Playoffs were supposed to mark the start of a dominant new era for the Lakers. The one led by the superstar duo of LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Instead, it ended in disaster. Instead of making it to the Championship game, where they ousted teams ‘in five’, it was the Lakers who got eliminated in five games by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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They were completely outplayed by Anthony Edwards and Co. on both ends of the floor. Going into the series, the Lakers were a heavy favorite to proceed to the next round. The reality, however, was far from that. Despite being the higher seed, the Lakers did not play like a team who had won 50 games.
Other than a home win in Game 2, the Lakers were mediocre in front of the Wolves throughout the series. Tonight, as they geared up for the elimination game, the Lakers only managed to put forth a decent challenge in the third quarter. Outside of that, their efforts were laughable as they lost 96-103 at home.
For all the hype surrounding LeBron’s leadership and Luka’s arrival, the Lakers failed to make any real impact, crashing out in what was expected to be a statement postseason. The criticism of such a disappointing run didn’t take long to roll in. Franchise legend Magic Johnson took to X to congratulate the Wolves while berating his team.
Magic wrote, “Congratulations to my good friend Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez, superstar Anthony Edwards, and the entire Minnesota Timberwolves team for beating my Lakers and advancing to the next round.”
He then went on to list the three reasons why he believes the Lakers lost. Magic believes that it was the ‘awful defense’ of the Lakers that cost them this series, along with their size, which led to them getting dominated in the paint.
“The reason the Lakers lost was because they played awful on defense, they were too small, and the Timberwolves dominated them in the paint,” Magic concluded.
Congratulations to my good friend Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez, superstar Anthony Edwards and the entire Minnesota Timberwolves team for beating my Lakers and advancing to the next round. The reason the Lakers lost was because they played awful on defense, they…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 1, 2025
22 points from LeBron, 28 from Luka, 23 from Rui Hachimura, and 12 from Austin Reaves weren’t enough to push the series to Game 6. The Wolves, on the other hand, played a brilliant overall game. Rudy Gobert was the star of the night with a playoff career-high performance. He scored 27 points, shooting 12 of 15 from the field, and had 24 rebounds.
Other than being terrible at defense, the Lakers had no interior presence and were physically outmatched by the Wolves. The Lakers need to get rid of the mentality that they can compete with offensive brilliance alone with Luka and LeBron at the helm of things.
The Lakers have a lot of changes to make in the upcoming offseason. They must prioritize defensive size and add more depth to their roster in the offseason for a better outing in the 2025-26 season. At the same time, if they want to make Luka the centerpiece of the team, they need to build around him. That starts with getting him a lob-threat big, just like the pair he had in Dallas.
The ball is now back in Rob Pelinka’s court. We’ll have to see what would the first set of moves he comes up with following an extension with the franchise.
