It’s time to restore the Lakers’ honor.

Since the arrival of LeBron James in the Los Angeles Lakers, the goal has been to win multiple NBA championships. The Purple and Gold managed to win one title under LeBron’s reign; however, they never followed up on another. After winning the 2020 NBA Finals, the Lakers made one bad decision after another.

Firstly, they got rid of the core players who helped the Lakers win that title. Then they stacked up on former All-Stars who were shells of their former selves. This led to chemistry problems getting in the way while struggling to keep up with younger teams.

In all fairness to the Lakers, they learned from their past mistakes after investing in young players like Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. Looking at Los Angeles’ current roster, LeBron and Anthony Davis are the only players in their 30s. However, it appears that the problems never stop as they fell short once again in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

The question now is, do the Lakers still have what it takes to win an NBA title with James and Davis leading the ranks? LeBron currently has a player option for the 2024-25 season. If he opts out and enters free agency this year, then the Purple and Gold would officially be in rebuild mode at that point.

Assuming that King James decides to stay one more year, let’s take a look at some fixes the Lakers should make to potentially win the 2025 NBA Finals.

Get rid of Darvin Ham

For the longest time ever since he took over as the head coach of the Lakers, many fans disliked Darvin Ham. From the majority’s perspective, Ham made some questionable decisions as a coach, particularly in the 2023-24 campaign. Many criticized his decision-making, especially when he benched core players like Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura during the regular season.

Other reasons vary from Ham not calling much-needed timeouts during a game to not subbing out players who are on a cold streak.

However, Ham recently shared his thoughts on the criticism he has been receiving. He told reporters that he finds it weird how people fail to realize that he has a volatile lineup to work with. Ham expressed how much he loves his job and how he did his best to work around what was available to him.

“It’s been extremely challenging,” Ham shared, via ESPN. “Everyone that’s been in and out of the lineup. Being criticized for not having a consistent rotation when I don’t have consistent healthy bodies. The thing that frustrates me, and I love this job, I love the pressure that comes with it, I’ve always been calm in the midst of chaos.

“[But] common sense tends to go out the window when you talk about my job in particular. It’s amazing how people just skip that core part of having a consistency with your lineup is all predicated on health and performance.”

Regardless of how he feels, Ham had a couple of seasons to prove that he could elevate the Lakers and take them to the next level. Unfortunately, he failed to do so this year and it’s time for Los Angeles to find a new leader if they wish to go all the way in 2025.

Acquire consistent scorers

One of the major factors the Lakers lack at the moment is their ability to finish games. The Purple and Gold tend to start strong and finish weak. The reason behind this is due to their inability to stay consistent throughout a game.

Looking at their most recent NBA Playoffs matchup against the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles proved they were capable of beating the defending champions. However, they somehow always tend to decline towards the second half of the game. The reason is that the supporting cast of the Lakers failed to keep up with Davis and James in crunch time.

With that said, it’s clear that the All-Star duo needs a more consistent set of talent who could finish strong. Fortunately, many prominent names are entering NBA free agency this season. The Lakers organization will have a variety of goods picks to select from.

Acquire more big men

Another flaw in the Lakers’ lineup right now is that they fall short of centers. As of the moment, Anthony Davis, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes are the only big men on the roster. However, with Hayes and Wood’s lack of presence inside the paint, AD still mostly takes over the center position.

That being said, Los Angeles still runs small-ball lineups with Davis as their center. The organization needs to scout for a couple of bigs that could help solidify the paint presence, something similar to their 2020 NBA Finals run with Dwight Howard and Javale McGee by their side.

If the Lakers wish to run with the current centers they have, they should at least help them hone their abilities as rim protectors. Having a more solid defense inside would prevent teams from outscoring Los Angeles especially come the second half.

With all that in mind, the decision remains to the Lakers organization if they wish to make these changes or not.