JJ Redick: Analytics Confirm Opposing Injured Players Return More Often Against Lakers
03/30/2025 10:05 AM
There has been a theory going around that opposing players always returning from injury to play against the Los Angeles Lakers, and it appears head coach JJ Redick has been able to confirm its validity.
Fans who follow the team on a daily basis that injured players always seem to get healthy just in time to play the Lakers. And to add to that, a lot of times those same players proceed to miss more games after suiting up against L.A.
The latest example of this theory came on Saturday night when Ja Morant returned against the Lakers after missing the last six games with a strained hamstring. It was a super important game for both teams so it made sense for Morant to do everything he could to play, but leading up to that point there had been no updates on his status and no signal that a return this quickly was even possible.
Regardless, Redick was asked about the theory before the game and confirmed that their analytics team looked into it and the Lakers do indeed have the worst “luck” when it comes to opposing teams being healthy against them.
“I think it’s like 86% of [opposing] payroll has been available to [play] us this year, which is by far No. 1 in the league,” Redick said.
This doesn’t come as some huge shock as the Lakers are one of the gold standard franchises in the NBA. They play the most national TV games every year and opposing players would love nothing more than to show out against the purple and gold in front of likely the most eyeballs they perform in front of all season.
At this point, it’s best for the Lakers to just embrace that they will be getting the best shot from every team on a nightly basis. Every game is super important from here on out, and the Lakers need to treat them as such regardless of who is in or out of the lineup.
JJ Redick previously told Lakers not to complain about schedule
JJ Redick and the Lakers won’t be using this data as any sort of excuse as he similarly made sure that wasn’t the case when they recently had a rough stretch in their schedule.
"Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago in film at the facility," Redick said of when he spoke to the Lakers on it. "I was just talking to CP [Chris Paul] in the hallway about a half an hour again and he was like 'Man, the schedule sucks.' Talking about the Spurs schedule. It just feels like this time of year, we're packing in a ton of games. The NFL is over and so for a team like us, they're fitting us in all of the national TV slots now, which creates a back-to-back in Milwaukee-Denver.
"Back-to-backs, it's just part of the NBA. Every team goes through it at different points. So no one is gonna feel sorry for us and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. You gotta play the game in front of you and then move on to the next thing and try to get better. I think as we start getting everybody back, they will be a lot of tough parts of the schedule still to go, but we knew this two weeks, last week starting with the Boston game through this homestand, was gonna be a huge challenge."
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
