The Los Angeles Lakers saw their season end Wednesday night after a 103-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs.
Los Angeles entered as the third seed in the Western Conference and was widely expected to be contenders for an NBA championship after the midseason acquisition of former Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic.
Instead, the Lakers head into the offseason with an uncertain future concerning superstar LeBron James and question marks on improving a defense that the Timberwolves torched during the series. Former New Orleans Pelicans center and current ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins did not hold back when discussing the Lakers’ disappointing play in this series.
“Before this series started, the Lakers had three out of the five best players, Luka, LeBron, and Austin Reaves,” Perkins explained during the NBA Today show on ESPN. He continued, “You can mix in Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle in whatever order you want to put it in. The Lakers came into this series favored. They got outplayed, and it’s a failed season.”
Perkins was especially critical of Doncic’s defensive performance, calling him “the worst defensive star that we’ve seen in the modern era of basketball. Period.” Many of the Lakers’ issues stemmed from their inability to close games in the fourth quarter. Minnesota outscored Los Angeles by 42 points in the fourth quarter during the five-game series.
Kendrick Perkins: “Luka Doncic is the worst defensive star that we’ve seen in the modern era of basketball. Period.”
Stephen A. Smith: “That’s very cruel… you could have found a nicer way to say that.”
(via @FirstTake)pic.twitter.com/TPruKsGyqE
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 1, 2025
The Lakers also could not stop Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, who had career-playoff highs in points (27) and rebounds (24) in the closeout game. Los Angeles now needs to upgrade its center position heading into next season and look to add more defensive presence to its roster in hopes of being contenders in the Western Conference.
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