JJ Redick liked what he saw from the Los Angeles Lakers defensively in their 127-103 preseason win over the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers forced 26 turnovers on Monday night, including 16 in the first half, as the defensive pressure they had been working on in practice translated immediately to the court.
“The defense carried over [from practice]. I think we had 16 turnovers forced in the first half…and [26] overall,” Redick said, according to Silver Screen and Roll’s Jackson Frank. “I know it’s a preseason game, [but] first time since 2000 the Lakers have done that. Clearly, that disruption we talked about carried over.”
Creating turnovers has not been a major strength for Los Angeles during Redick’s first two seasons in charge.
The Lakers finished 18th in opponent turnover rate during the 2024-25 season before ranking 15th last year, according to Cleaning the Glass. They never posted a rate higher than 14.6 percent across those two seasons.
Against Sacramento, that number jumped to 25.2 percent.
Redick was particularly pleased with how quickly his team moved the basketball and capitalized on the opportunities created by its defense.
“That first half, our organization was at 93%. Our advantage creation was at 65%. We were able to score the basketball,” Redick said. “I thought we did a good job throughout the game of making the right play and passing the ball and not having it stick. Didn’t run a ton of early drags even when Luka was out there but were able to generate good things. Obviously, the defense being able to force turnovers helped our offense. Getting stops helped our offense. I thought our good jobs did a good job, overall, with our running patterns…We just consistently did the right play and the right play helped our teammates.”
The defensive pressure also helped Los Angeles find opportunities at the other end. Despite Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler sitting out, the Lakers scored 127 points and exploded for 73 in the first half.
Luka Doncic led Los Angeles with 21 points, while Quentin Grimes, Ziaire Williams and Jake LaRavia combined for another 41 points on just 19 shots.
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