Jarred Vanderbilt’s brutally honest assessment of Lakers’ struggles

LOS ANGELES – The recent struggles for the Los Angeles Lakers continued following their 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas. The Lakers losing streak hit three games, and head coach JJ Redick was unable to hide his frustrations amid repeated effort and execution issues. For Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt, the Lakers issues aren’t anything new.

Following the Lakers’ most recent loss, Jarred Vanderbilt acknowledged that the team’s struggles were present for quite some time, and the early wins only masked what was readily apparent.

“We’ve been having different lineups, we haven’t had all our guys together. And it’s kind of been a trending thing even when we were winning,” Vanderbilt said. “Obviously wins kind of shadow a lot of stuff, but it’s been the same pretty much all year of how we finish games, lose games. . .it’s been trending all year. . .it’s just a little bit more highlighted now that we’ve lost a couple of games.”

In Vanderbilt’s case, he was an overall positive during the Rockets loss, and he has been since he’s re-entered the rotation. He brings a lot of what the Lakers lack overall, namely defensive energy and effort. When Vanderbilt entered the game late in the first quarter, and the difference in the Lakers’ energy was obvious.

He was a plus-five in 26 minutes, the highest plus-minus on the team. And it wasn’t just his defense and his effort on the glass, but his offense as well as he connected on three of his first three 3-point attempts. But to get the Lakers’ back on track, it’s going to take each player on the roster playing with that kind of effort.

“It’s part of the season. You’re gonna win some games, you’re gonna go on some win streaks, go on some losing streaks. We just got to find out who we are as a team,” Vanderbilt said. “We’re going through some adversity, it’s about how we respond. We basically have the answers to the test. Just play hard, play physical, get back in transition. We know what we need to do, so at this point we just got to do it. Just take some pride, especially on that end of the floor.”

The Lakers will look to get back in the win column with a home game on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings. They will then close out 2025 and bring in the New Year hosting the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, Dec. 30.

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