Rich Paul says Lakers roster wasn’t ‘anywhere close’ to championship-caliber: ‘It’s just a fact’

The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in just five games in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Despite making a massive trade for star guard Luka Doncic during the 2024-25 regular season, the Lakers were unable to mask some of their issues, including their lack of rim protection, against Minnesota in the playoffs.

The Timberwolves closed things out behind a huge game from center Rudy Gobert, who grabbed 24 rebounds and scored 27 points against the Lakers and their small-ball lineups in Game 5.

Rich Paul, the agent for Lakers star LeBron James and a couple of other Lakers players, doesn’t believe that Los Angeles’ roster this season was “anywhere close” to championship-caliber.

“I just really didn’t think that the roster for the Lakers was anywhere close to a championship-type roster, you know?” Paul said. “And that’s not making excuses. It’s just a fact. And it’s very hard to build a team for today and tomorrow. … You’ve got to have assets. You’ve got to have cap flexibility. You’ve got to have draft capital.”

The Lakers did attempt to add a big man at the trade deadline, but their deal for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams fell through. That left the Lakers with Jaxson Hayes as their primary big man, and he played sparingly in the first round against Minnesota.

After finishing with the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference in the 2024-25 regular season, the Lakers have some moves that they’ll need to make to reach the next level in the 2025-26 campaign.

With Doncic now in the fold, Los Angeles has one of the more talented scoring and passing trios in the NBA in James, Doncic and Austin Reaves. If the Lakers can upgrade the roster in the offseason while keeping those three players entrenched in their roles, they could be in the mix to win a title next season.

Los Angeles has some assets that it can move, including Dalton Knecht (the Lakers’ first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft) and some first-round draft capital.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Lakers approach the offseason and which players they decide to target to improve their roster for next season.