The Los Angeles Lakers are a few nights away from the start of the 2026-27 season.
The Lakers built this season's team hoping to take the next step and return to glory, led by Luka Doncic.
Los Angeles hopes Doncic will lead them to multiple titles during his tenure, with Austin Reaves as his partner. Reaves is the longest-tenured Laker and has endured some team and individual success.
The 28-year-old has improved every season, but this season will be his first with an entirely new roster. That alone will present a few challenges, and while he has strong chemistry with Doncic, we have not seen it with the Lakers' third-best player, Walker Kessler.
Can Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves & Walker Kessler Build Chemistry in Time?
The Lakers' newest trio of Doncic, Reaves and Kessler hasn't had much time to build the chemistry they'd hoped for. Reaves spoke on that after the team's preseason finale and admitted there will be some growing pains as the three look to work together.
“Oh, [it’s] good. There's gonna be some growing pains," Reaves said.
"Just a lack of reps together so far, but you take guys like that, that are that talented, you are more than likely gonna pick up on it sooner than later. We'll continue to grow that over the next couple days and get ready for opening night.”
Talent could only get you so far, but the Lakers aren't relying on that. They're relying on chemistry and camaraderie, but they haven't had much time to build that with the newest big three.
Doncic, Reaves and Kessler have only played half a game of basketball together and a total of 13 minutes, all of which came in the Lakers' preseason finale against the Denver Nuggets.
Given that there were five preseason games and they only played 13 minutes together, it is a bit discouraging.
Austin Reaves Has High Praise for Lakers’ New-Look Team
The Lakers are counting on their chemistry to get them over the hump, potentially. However, they'll need to figure it out in the regular season.
Despite the Lakers trio not playing a lot together, Reaves loves what he saw from the team.
“Just a fun group to be around," Reaves said. "Enjoy going to work every day and yeah, they're high character people that I enjoy being around.”
The Lakers added nine new players to the roster, an historic turnaround for a team that won a playoff series last season.
Los Angeles has the star power to compete with the league's best, but team chemistry could be the key to getting over the top.
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