Analyzing the Lakers' 2025-26 schedule
The Lakers' schedule this season will have some really challenging stretches. However, there are also some portions of the schedule that are favorable at the right times, and that is something they can take advantage of as they look to become a legitimate championship contender.
Let's start with the initial weeks of L.A.'s schedule.
The first month or so isn't easy, but it's manageable
The Lakers are still in the process of developing chemistry with Luka Doncic after he arrived in early February. Therefore, a manageable first few weeks of the schedule would really help.
They have a challenging game to start the regular season versus the Golden State Warriors at home on Oct. 21. After that, their next 15 games or so are something they should be able to handle while still being moderately challenged enough to grow as a unit.
During that time, they will play the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that knocked them out of the first round of playoffs in five games, on Oct. 24 and Oct. 29. Other than that, the only other truly challenging team they will face in the first month of the season is the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
On the other hand, nine of L.A.'s first 14 games will be on the road. That includes their first extended road trip of the season.
The Lakers have three long road trips this season
On Nov. 8, the Lakers start a five-game road trip with a contest versus the Atlanta Hawks. Over the following week, they will also play the Charlotte Hornets, Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks before returning home for a game against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 18.
After that, the Lakers' schedule is pretty manageable until their annual Grammy road trip, which begins this season on Jan. 20, 2026. The first game of that trip will be against the Denver Nuggets. This season's Grammy trip will last eight games and also include contests versus the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.
Then in March, Los Angeles will have its third and final extended road trip. This one will have six games, and it will start with twin games against the Houston Rockets, as well as matchups with the Orlando Magic and the rising Detroit Pistons.
There will be a long stretch of predominantly home games
After the Lakers return from their Grammy trip, they will be home for almost every game until that six-game trip in March. In fact, they will only have three road games during that stretch against the Phoenix Suns, Warriors and Nuggets. That means they will barely be crossing time zones for about a month and a half.
They will, however, have several tough games during that time, including two against the Warriors and Nuggets and one against the Thunder, Timberwolves and Knicks. At least fatigue shouldn't be an issue for that portion of the schedule.
The final games of the schedule are a mixed bag
The Lakers will have nine games remaining after their six-game road trip in March. They will play the Thunder twice and have one game each against the Warriors, Mavericks and Cavaliers during that stretch.
But other than that, they will have some relatively easy games, including their final two of the season, which will be the Suns and Jazz at home. That should give them a relatively soft landing as they prepare for the postseason.
How many back-to-back games will the Lakers have?
In recent years, the NBA has done a decent job of cutting back on how many back-to-back games every team has had throughout a season. This year, L.A. will have 14 sets of back-to-back games, which is just as many as it had last season.
Last season, the Lakers had six sets of back-to-back games in March and April, and they played a stretch of 10 games in 15 days, which included four sets of back-to-back games and three such sets in a row.
This season, they will have three back-to-back sets in March and one in April.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
10 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
Your Hisense TV isn't showing sports at its best — here's 7 ways to fix it
Your Hisense TV has incredible potential for watching sports, but if you're using the default settings, you're probably not getting the best experience possible. Blurry motion during fast plays, washed-out colors on the field, and commentary that gets drowned out by crowd noise can all diminish those crucial game-changing moments. With weekly NFL games, the Premier League and another NBA season just around the corner, now's the perfect time to get your TV settings sports-viewing ready. Hisense TVs come packed with AI-powered features specifically designed for sports, but many of these aren't enabled by default. Here are seven ways to unlock your TV's full potential and make every game look its best. The successor to our 2024 TV of the Year and current best under $1000 TV, the Hisense U8QG is a Mini-LED marvel with incredible brightness and color saturation. I love its Google TV smart platform and its sticker price of $997 on Amazon. Hisense TVs have a dedicated sports mode that automatically optimizes picture quality for fast-paced action, but it's often disabled by default. Look for "AI Sports Mode" in your picture settings and turn it on. This feature uses AI algorithms to analyze sporting movement in real-time, automatically optimizing your picture for fast-paced action like NFL games or NBA basketball. The AI adjusts sharpness, reduces noise, and smooths transitions so you won't miss crucial plays during high-speed action sequences. Once enabled, you'll notice clearer player movements and sharper details during games. Motion blur is one of the biggest issues when watching sports on any TV, making fast plays look smeared and difficult to follow. Navigate to your motion settings and enable AI Smooth Motion, Motion Smoothing or MEMC, and set these to medium. This prevents blurry visuals during fast plays without creating the artificial "soap opera effect" that makes sports look unnatural. Start with medium settings and adjust based on preference — you want smooth motion while maintaining the natural feel of live sports, especially important for rapid movement in hockey, tennis, or basketball. Some Hisense TVs come with oversaturated color presets that make sports broadcasts look artificial and unnatural. Set your color setting to 60-70% for naturally vibrant colors and choose Standard or Cinema mode instead of Vivid. This gives you realistic team uniforms and playing field colors without oversaturation. QLED technology in Hisense TVs excels at displaying rich colors, so you'll see accurate deep greens of football fields and bright team jersey colors during prime time games. Poor contrast and brightness settings can make it hard to distinguish players in different lighting conditions, especially during outdoor games. Adjust contrast to 80-90% and brightness to around 50% for LED TVs (slightly lower for OLED models). Also, enable Dynamic Contrast but keep it on Low or Medium to prevent distracting brightness shifts during broadcasts. These settings help you clearly see jersey numbers and track player movements even when cameras pan from bright field areas to darker sidelines. Stadium crowds can often drown out commentary, making it difficult to follow play-by-play analysis and important game information. Turn on AI Clear Voice in your audio settings to hear commentators clearly over crowd noise. This feature uses machine learning to isolate and amplify speech, automatically raising commentary above background stadium noise. You'll never miss important play-by-play analysis or referee explanations during crucial moments, especially useful during loud playoff games where crowd noise can be overwhelming. Audio is just as important as picture quality for creating an immersive sports viewing experience that makes you feel like you're in the stadium. Enable Dolby Atmos in your audio settings for immersive sound and make sure any built-in subwoofer is enabled. You'll hear everything from cleats on turf to explosive crowd roars, with bass that makes every tackle and celebration more impactful. Refresh rate settings determine how smoothly motion appears on screen, and the wrong settings can make fast sports action look choppy or unnatural. Set your TV to 100Hz or higher if available and enable Auto Motion Plus, MotionFlow or TruMotion set to Clear or Standard. Higher refresh rates provide ultra-fluid motion essential for fast-moving sports while avoiding over-processing. These settings prevent motion judder that can make it difficult to track a football in flight or follow basketball. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Eddie Johnson reveals why Shawn Kemp does not get the respect he deserves: "His production went down because of his inability to understand how to handle himself off the court"
Eddie Johnson reveals why Shawn Kemp does not get the respect he deserves: "His production went down because of his inability to understand how to handle himself off the court" originally appeared on Basketball Network. Shawn Kemp's trajectory in the NBA realm is one of the weirdest. While his prime made the strongest centers fear him, he is largely absent from conversations about the greatest in his position as his career wound down. However, when a young Blake Griffin was drawing comparisons to the 'Reign Man,' solely based on the similarities they shared in dunking and scoring, Eddie Johnson was quick to clarify that Kemp's on-court prowess deserved greater respect. Interestingly, Eddie also acknowledged the primary reason why Kemp fails to get the recognition he deserves is due to his own wrongdoings, which took the focus away from his heroics. Johnson believed young Griffin was nowhere near Kemp's level Selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft class, Blake Griffin eventually made his debut in 2010 and immediately impressed everyone. He averaged 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds in his debut campaign. Furthermore, over his first six seasons, he maintained a scoring average of 21.4 points per game while registering SportsCenter-worthy dunks season after season. Naturally, this prompted widespread comparisons to Kemp, based on their athletic and scoring ability at the rim. However, Johnson dismissed these comparisons outright, emphasizing that Kemp's statistical output fails to fully convey the nightmare he posed for defenders. Having witnessed the fear Kemp's mere presence instilled in opponents, Johnson admitted that the lack of recognition stems from Kemp's repeated off-court troubles, which forced fans and many within the NBA community to view Shawn as nothing more than a problematic figure. "I saw some of the most unbelievable, impossible feats in practice that you ever wanna to see. Every now and then, he would show us on the basketball court. Shawn Kemp was a man-child, came straight out of high school, and Shawn in his career, averaged 14 points… Blake Griffin, six years in the league right now, averaging about 21 points per game," Johnson said. "Now the comparison is kind of distorted because Shawn Kemp was tremendous on the court, but his production went down because of his inability to understand how to handle himself off the court." Kemp's image was significantly hampered during the latter stages When Kemp attained six consecutive All-Star nods and even led the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA Finals in 1996 as a three-time All-NBA Second Team selectee, many anticipated that he would elevate his game to even greater heights. However, his trajectory took a sharp downturn. During his first season with the Portland Trail Blazers, the six-time All-Star entered a drug rehabilitation program for cocaine abuse. Then, in 2002, he was suspended for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy. Even when he called quits on his playing days in 2005, Shawn was arrested in Washington after police discovered marijuana and cocaine in his possession. Therefore, as Eddie rightly mentioned, Kemp willingly took away the spotlight from his on-court achievements and also tarnished his public image. Who knows, had he focused solely on basketball, he would have ensured a meaningful end to his NBA story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 15, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Amir Coffey signs with Milwaukee Bucks on training camp deal
Amir Coffey deserves an NBA roster spot. He is coming off a career season with the Clippers, averaging 9.7 points a game, shooting 40.9% from 3, playing 24 minutes a night on a 50-win team. However, that was not enough to get Coffey a standard NBA contract. He signed on Thursday with the Milwaukee Bucks, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN, but this is a training camp only contract for Coffey, reports Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Milwaukee already has the maximum of 15 players under contract for next season (and the veteran Coffey does not qualify for a two-way contract). Technically, the contract of Andre Jackson Jr. is not fully guaranteed. If the Bucks were willing to eat the $800,000 buyout price, they could let Jackson Jr. go and keep Coffey. It was thought that Jackson and Thanasis Antetokounmpo might battle it out in camp for that final roster spot, now Coffey's name is in that mix. This is a quality pickup for the Bucks — they need depth at the three and Coffey slots right in. It's a little surprising that reuniting with Doc Rivers — his first coach with the Clippers — was the best offer on the table for Coffey, but if the Bucks keep him around, he adds solid regular-season depth to a roster that could use it.
