The Lakers lost to the Kings on Tuesday night, 124-112, and it unfolded in a familiar fashion. Los Angeles enjoyed 64 combined points from the star duo of LeBron James and Luka Dončić but shot the ball very poorly from deep, hitting only eight of their 36 three-point attempts. The performance slid the Lakers to dead last in the entire NBA in three-point percentage; the purple and gold are hitting only 33.8% of their tries from beyond the arc this year.
Speaking to the media afterwards, coach JJ Redick got brutally honest about his team’s struggles hitting jump shots.
“It is (that simple),” Redick said. “It’s, we literally can’t make a shot. I mean, you look at it, (the Kings) are right there with us as being one of the worst shooting teams in the league. They’re tied for the highest (shooting percentage ) with Houston for the highest anybody’s shot all season. That’s typical. We were 28th before tonight in opponent three-point percentage, we’ll be 29th or 30th after tonight. We had 50 potential assists tonight, we converted on 21 of those. Expected score, we won by 24. Like, this has been the theme. It’s been the theme. So... Gotta keep shooting, I guess.”
JJ Redick:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) January 13, 2026
"Literally we can't make a shot" pic.twitter.com/GFUagytqmZ
It is quite a problem in the modern NBA if a team cannot shoot or prevent opponents from making jumpers. There is definitely a degree of luck involved, especially in regards to opponent three-point percentage. But Redick’s point illustrates the simple make-or-miss nature of today’s league—if a team wants to win they either have to make shots or force misses in bunches.
The issue the Lakers are now running into is that their roster is made up of players who can’t really do either at an elite level. Dončić is a majestic scorer when he’s clicking but isn’t actually that good of a three-point shooter in the big picture, hitting only 32% of his attempts this year and owning a 34.8% lifetime shooting percentage from beyond the arc. James is in a similar boat and hasn’t found his stroke from deep yet, making only 30.4% of his three-pointers this year. The larger problem is the players around them, though; only three shooters in the rotation hit above the league average of 35.8% from three-point land.
Of course, Los Angeles has been missing its best volume three-point shooter in Austin Reaves since Christmas. The fifth-year guard nails 36% of his 7.4 deep shots per game but has been sidelined for a few weeks with a calf injury. The numbers should look a lot better once he’s back on the court and opponents should stop shooting the lights out eventually every time they play the Lakers.
Even so, the current state of the numbers is a reflection of the roster Los Angeles has put together. Redick seems frustrated with it, but as he says, they can only keep shooting. The Lakers will try to bounce back and snap this three-game skid on Tuesday night against the Hawks.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as JJ Redick Got Brutally Honest About Lakers’ Shooting Struggles After Latest Loss.
