Jeff Teague lacks belief in 2025-26 Lakers: ‘I don’t like that team’

There are some Los Angeles Lakers fans who are optimistic about the team’s chances of contending in the West in the coming season. After all, star guard Luka Doncic has a new and improved physique after facing plenty of flak over his conditioning, and the Lakers also bolstered their supporting cast this offseason with the additions of Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia.

Despite all that, former Atlanta Hawks star guard Jeff Teague isn’t sold on the Lakers being a great team. He isn’t a huge fan of the squad that the Lakers have assembled ahead of the 2025-26 season.

“I don’t like that team,” he said. “I think they’re gonna be good ’cause they just got Luka and LeBron [James]. I think that they’re good enough to always be in top five with them two, but I don’t like that team. I would never pick them.”

Teague suggested he doesn’t like the Lakers as currently constructed, but that doesn’t mean he thinks Los Angeles will be a bad team. A top-five finish in the Western Conference for the Lakers in the coming season would be nothing to sneeze at.

Maybe he has concerns about a starting backcourt duo of Doncic and Austin Reaves from a defensive standpoint. Those two certainly aren’t known for their defense, and it’s possible that even the addition of a former Defensive Player of the Year in Smart won’t be enough to elevate L.A. when it comes to that specific concern.

While the Lakers have plenty of star power and solid depth, they still aren’t many folks’ pick to represent the Western Conference in the 2026 NBA Finals. The West is stacked with talented and experienced teams, and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder just so happen to reside in the conference as well. Until proven otherwise, the Thunder are the team to beat in the West, even with a number of scary teams chasing them.

However, it’s always possible that the Lakers fare better than anticipated in the coming season. Maybe Doncic puts together an MVP-caliber season while James continues to defy the aging process and many others play their roles at a high level. Even if a deep playoff run for the Lakers in 2026 isn’t on a lot of people’s bingo cards, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.