Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Schedule Breakdown: Highlights, Lowlights, and Big Challenges Ahead

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

In a normal offseason, the August schedule release is one of those signpost events that lets fans know the season is creeping closer. It's a fun chance to try and predict what's coming.  Things never quite work out as predicted, but that's part of the fun.  Of course, this year, a certain blip in the news cycle has radically changed the subject for Lakers fans, who now wonder what's coming with the second ownership change in 15 months. But that doesn't mean the schedule didnt' come out! So we break it down. What are the highlights? The lowlights? The most challenging parts?  Start with the beginning. The Lakers are home-heavy, and get just about as tolerable an opening 18 game stretch as you could ask for. A couple games against elite squads, a couple against bottom feeders, and a bunch against potentially-solid-but-still-lower-tier Western Conference teams like Golden State, Portand and Utah. JJ Redick and his staff will have an opportunity to get a huge crew of new players acclimated, and because they see the same opponents multiple times (2x vs. GSW, 2x vs. Portland, 2x vs. Sacto, 3x vs. Utah) learn how different lineup adjustments can work against the same opponent which can be helpful with a new roster.  Things get significantly more challenging in the second half of the year, so that's tough, but the Lakers benefit from closing with a very home heavy schedule.  One that includes consecutive games against Minnesota (games 80 and 81) that could prove very, very significant.    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky    Photo Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images   Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMto play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Lakers have a schedule. We'll tell you the highlights, the low lights, and whether or not they're going to go 82 and O. That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Thanks to everybody for stopping by Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, Thursday, was one, Andy, of the major off-season holidays for NBA fans, Jonesing for something to talk about. Of course, here in Southern California, we actually had a gigantic news bomb that, to some degree, pushed the schedule off to the side. But for everyone else in the NBA, it's an awfully big deal. And it is a big deal for us as well, Andy. It is the annual release of the full schedule. We got the drip drip earlier in the week of Christmas and opening day and then the NBA Cup. And now we know all 82. Yeah, we had

completely, by the way, forgotten about the NBA Cup and breaking down. Pushed down to the cycle. Yeah, their group and whatever. And other than the spurs being in their group, I think it's the spurs, the kings, the blazers, the warriors, all in all, it's a pretty solid draw for your group. But there are much bigger things going on. No, I mean, it was when we, you know, let people behind the curtain, we kind of plan these things out, especially in the off season, you know,

you want to plan around certain news. well, you know, Thursday or Wednesday, the NBA Cup draw will come out. That'll be a segment. No, it won't. No. Segment. We thought it was going to be an entire show. Like three days worth of shows.

Stretch that baby out for at least three segments if not try to force a bonus show out of it. But yeah. That's when we didn't realize just how deep a hole Mark Walter might be in. But that's a topic for a different show. We have the whole schedule, Andy, all 82 games. As always, there's some interesting stuff in it. And it is fun to try to forecast what the 82 game schedule is going to look like. Well, we can start with a positive, which is to me the opening 20 games of the season,

which are all things being equal, I think pretty soft, not in any particular order, but just in terms of how many times they're going to see some of these teams. they will see Utah three times in the first 20 games. I think Utah is going to be better this season, but they're still not going to be great. And regardless, reaching whatever is their top form will probably take more than the opening 20 games of this season. So that, I think, is something a break for the Lakers.

They'll play the Warriors, the Clippers, the Kings, and the Blazers twice. I think Portland, you know, they were a low-end playoff team last year. They're going to be interesting this year, but the Lakers still should be better than them, the Clippers, who exactly knows what they're going to be, but I still don't think they'll be as good as the Lakers anyway. Warriors, I don't think are going to be great, and the Kings are the Kings.

They will play the Bucks, the Grizzlies, and the Hornets, who I think are likely going to be taking a small step back this season once. Toughest games of the 20 are Miami at Detroit, at Atlanta, at Phoenix, and that is part of a four-game road trip, and at San Antonio. but all in all, it is a pretty good team. Toronto's a pretty good team. Yeah, Toronto's in there.

Well, again, we don't know exactly which version of Toronto. I mean, if they're just last year's version, they're still pretty good team. They're good. But okay, so at a six team and they're out of 20, that's solid. But all in all, I think it is a purple and gold friendly beginning. And it also mirrors something I talked about earlier in the week about how the second half of the schedule is typically harder for the Lakers annually because the league saves a lot of really juicy marquee matchups until after the Super Bowl and the NBA has the full sports world attention.

And that is big picture in the aggregate for seasons difficult. But I think for this particular year with a roster that's got so many new faces and a lot to figure out, that is a potential blessing. Yeah, and the other half about that is here. The Lakers typically have to cram a few extra road games or a couple longer trips on the second half of the season as well, just because of the booking for the Crypto.com arena. So, yeah, I mean, I think I'm giving a little bit more credit to some of the teams the Lakers are playing over those first 20 games. But, I mean, some of it is just you can't get.

like there's no such thing as a 20 games of easy schedule. I realize the the the the west is I think it's a it's a tick weaker this year than it was last year. I think that that group of like next from the two top teams. They're all facing at the very least a certain degree of uncertainty. Some of the teams near the bottom of the conference will be better this year than last. So I think there's a little more depth. but it's maybe not quite as elite or near elite as it was before. But that said, I still think it's pretty good.

So, you know, Portland, I happen to think, at the very least, has potential to be, you know, challenge for a top eight. I think I'm really curious. But there's a lot, Portland, though, just really quick. There's a lot. Portland's going to be figuring out just by. Oh, completely. So jaw trade, return of Lillard. They've got a lot of stuff.

So getting them twice. in the first, I believe, 10 games actually. Well, yeah, the clustering of the schedule, which is a function of the NBA Cup, and the NBA's attempts to try to limit as much back-to-backs or in the case of when the Lakers are playing, including two of this variety against Minnesota, where they have just two games in a row

against the same team, these short series. The Lakers do that in Minnesota, in the early half of the season. And then games 80 and 81 are against Minnesota, which we'll talk about in a second. I know that's something we both flagged. But the clustering of the schedule itself is kind of interesting. It's six of the first 10 games the Lakers play

are against the Clippers and it's the Clippers, the Blazers, and the Warriors. That's six of the first 10 games they play. And then in the next 13, you've got Utah in there two more times. So, you know, you get three games against Utah in your first 18. So that creates all kinds of weird scenarios where... Two against Sacramento in the first 18. Yeah.

And so like we're going to see a bunch of teams, you know, frequently and then not see him again for a long time. but in addition to allowing and you know to kind of carry on your point about you know it's it could be harder that i agree with it's an opportunity not just for the team to kind of gel and you know them to figure out what their rotations look like and how what kind of matchups they want to use and who fits best with each other and all that kind of stuff i actually think these sort of clustered games where you can play the Blazers and then turn around and play the Blazers again, play Utah and turn around and play them again and get a couple games against the Warriors. It allows you an opportunity as a coaching staff to sort of make some adjustments, see what's going on, try different things, and because you get

that common opponent. And I think that could be something else that helps because, you know, you and I are going to talk about this a lot. And we've already mentioned at least a few dozen times It's a huge year for JJ Redick and the coaching staff. And I think we're going to learn a lot about his ability, their ability to maximize role players. Lakers are going to exceed expectations this year. They really are going to have to make sure that they are getting everything they can, slotting guys into the most advantageous positions.

And these kinds of repeat matchups, I think, can help them learn a little bit faster than they otherwise might. Yeah. Again, all things being equal, I'm not saying that the opening 20 games are cake. And I think just in general, between the West, even if you think, in your opinion, it's gone back a bit, it's still going to be good. It's still quite good.

The depth, I think, is better. And the East is better. Right. So there's only so many breaks you can get, period. But I think all things being equal and realistic, and again, compared to, we'll break down game 62 through 82. this opening 20 in terms of quality of competition, the opportunities for the coaching staff,

and the general ability to morph into the form that you want to be as a team that really has a lot to figure out, this was about as good as the Lakers could have realistically hoped for. Oh, I agree. I agree. And it's tilted towards home games, which I think also helps. You know, I think it's one, two, three,

four, five, six of that first 18 are in Los Angeles. I mean, they play one game against the Clippers, but you're obviously not traveling for that. So, you know, you get to stay at home. You get to have a little bit more practice time. You know, your first back-to-back, for example, doesn't actually require you to travel. You play Portland at home on the 27th and the Clippers on the 28th.

So it's little things like that that make a difference for, you know, how much travel time, how much practice time and all that stuff you get, which, you know, again, you're trying to come together as a group makes a difference. Things do get interesting over the second half of the season. There are some brutal stretches of schedule, but also a couple things in their favor.

And I mentioned it before. Games 80 and 81 could be two of the most significant the Lakers play all year. We'll explain next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Odo. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems, never designed to work together, one for accounting, one for accounting, one for inventory, another for

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ownership group. And they managed to work this thing together before everyone might be saying. I'm sorry, which previous ownership group? The second previous ownership group. Okay, thank you. Yeah. The Mark Walter ownership group. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Remember them for Mark Walter? Sure. The good thing. is that everyone seemed to be in regular communication with Luca Dantius. The point I was trying to make with Odu's seems a lot better like a mere 48 hours ago. But you know what? I guarantee it.

Well, you know, no, Andy, what we should be focusing on is how good the communication apparently was between Kushner, Eiger and Walter. Oh, I bet they were using Odoo. They were Oduing the heck out of that. Oh, I'll tell you right now, if you want to try to sell a franchise as big as the Lakers, for 12 and a half billion dollars, damn right to use an Odo. Yeah.

Organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get O2. Try for free today at Odu.com slash locked on. That's Odie OO.com slash locked on. Yeah. So one of the things that you just kind of anticipate with the Lakers and the schedule, Andy, is that the second half of the season is going to

be tough like that. And it's usually, and it's, it kind of follows a fairly predictable pattern. The Lakers tend to leave town around, you know, around the first of the year, around a little after Christmas and sort of don't come back until March. That's often how the pattern works. And it is a pretty road-heavy schedule after the first of the year. Let me tell you something. Game 62 through 82. At Orlando, at Sixers, as we assured everybody, Christmas was not going to be the second meeting is the first.

So at Philly. That one's on TV, by the way. Then hosting OKC, hosting the Nets, second end of a back-to-back. Hosting the Knicks, hosting the Cavs, second end of a back-to-back, then hosting the Warriors, at Portland, at Phoenix, second end of a back-to-back, hosting Atlanta, hosting Dallas, then at Miami, at Cleveland, at Houston, at Memphis, at OKC, then hosting the Spurs, Mavericks, two non-consecutive back-to-back

games against the Timberwolves, then Phoenix. Like, there's a couple breaks in there, but even then like the second... We call that a Grover Cleveland, Andy. But then, like, the second end of you know, when they play Brooklyn, that's even the second end of a back-to-back.

But like, all in all, that is a meat grinder, man. It's a tough. I mean, it's funny because, like, what's stuck out to me about that part of the schedule. I was actually more honed in on the games about 34 to 63. Like it's a 25, 30 games stretch there where they are predominantly on the road. And we talked about the improvement of the East.

Some of these Eastern Conference road trips, which you'd look at previously and be like, well, it's a long road trip, but they get to play five Eastern Conference teams. So, you know, maybe it's not so bad. And obviously, the Lakers travel incredibly well in terms of their fan base. And depending on where you're playing, it's not such a big deal. But like now, you know, you go and, you know, you get a road trip that takes you through Indiana, New York, Charlotte, and Boston as the first four games of an Eastern Conference swing. I think it's hard to know exactly if Charlotte. Charlotte might take a little step backwards

on what they did in the second half last year because they're kind of recalibrating the team. But, you know, if that's the worst of the four teams you're going to play out there, Charlotte's not a laughing stock anymore with, you know, Brandon Miller and Canuple and those guys that they've decided to build around post-Lamelo ball. You know, you get Brooklyn,

but then you, you know, go to San Antonio and Phoenix. Like, that's pretty tough. Like these Eastern Conference swings that they get. that just aren't that easy anymore. You know, you start in Dallas and Denver, you mentioned that one. And then you go to Orlando and Philly. Like those could be two very challenging games to deal with. But when they get back from Philadelphia,

that game against LeBron and the Sixers on March 4th is that game. They are essentially home for the rest of the season. They have, I believe 18 games would be at that one, two, three. I'm really not good at math. one, two, three, four, five, six. They only play six road games from game 65 on. So yes, this is- five-game road trip, but yes, you're correct.

The schedule, and again, you know, the Eastern, some of that's against the Eastern Conference. You know, that's a tough road trip, where you get in Miami with Janus and Cleveland and Houston and Memphis is not going to be very good, but Oklahoma City certainly will be. So those, that's, I mean, it's tough road trip. But you are home heavy for that last stretch, which, you know, it's funny.

We're so used to in years past being like, hey, a little less travel, guys can kind of rest and gear up. You have an older team and this and that, whatever. That should be significantly less of a problem this year in terms of old legs and how you get them through the rest of the season. But it is still nice to basically be in your building for, you know, most of the season. And they don't even have a lot of those like one or two game trips where you have to come and go and come and go. It's like when they leave, they're gone for five games, but they're home before that and they're home at the end. And I think that could be something that's quite beneficial. Yeah, even then, like they have 15 back to backs this season.

And none of them have home and road splits that force them out of the Pacific time zone. and there's only one on the road, November 8th and 9th at Detroit, then at Atlanta, with, I guess, semi-long travel. And even then, it's not outrageous. And they do get the benefit of that Sunday game in Detroit. It starts a little earlier for TV. Right. So, like, as far as back-to-backs go, I've seen worse.

You and I've covered this team for, like, 20-something years. I've seen way worse in the way a lot of these back-to-backs are laid out. Another interesting, and I think potentially good break for the Lakers, in looking at like the first game that they play against some of the toughest teams in the league, mentioned earlier. They play the Pistons really early on the road. That's November 8th. And then they get the spurs on the road November 27th.

That's a cup game, Andy. Yeah, first time again, yeah, well, there's going to be some extra action. action for that one. That's right. And then they get the rockets for the first time, November 30th. So at that point, they'll have had at least a month under their belt. They don't see the wolves until mid-December for the first time. They'll play them two games in a row in Minnesota, non-back-to-back, but consecutive. Stay in Minnesota and play two games.

Right. They don't see Denver for the first time until the next game after those wolves games, December 19th. So again, about a month to round into that, they'll play the Sixers. Christmas. They don't see the Celtics until the first time until January. They will not see the thunder for the first time until January 26th, and they don't see the Knicks for the first time until January 30th. So I feel like while this, by the way, portends to just how difficult the second half of the season is going to be, it does, again, and I keep stressing this because I think

it's really important, it does actually offer them an opportunity to really round into their better form before they start facing some of these teams that are going to be really good. And at least some of them will be not just good, but have more continuity than them. So again, there's no such thing as an easy schedule, but all things being equal and realistic, I think the Lakers got some good breaks. If they had come back with the same team, they'd run it back, or if they were one of these groups with a little bit older legs and a couple years worth of continuity, you'd almost want these things backwards. You want them to have the harder stuff at the beginning when guys are fresh and then play some cupcakes near the end when either guys are resting or whatever might be. But obviously this team has flipped over completely.

those early teams, the Blazers, don't get you wrong, the Blazers, Utah, groups like that, I am very interested in seeing what they look like, but they're not the wolves, they're not the spurs, they're not the Rockets, they're not the Lakers, they're not one of these teams that you would expect to certainly be contending in the top six and things like that.

So it's always fun when the schedule comes out. It is always fun to break it down. Let us know what you think are the most interesting moments that you see down in the comments, tweet us at Cam Brothers and all that stuff. Make sure you are subscribing to the Lockdown Lakers podcast both on YouTube but also through the audio channels, whether it's Apple, whether it's Spotify, however you get your podcast because you want to be ready because apparently this team gets sold all the time. Like you need to be ready because it could get sold again tomorrow. Yeah, the people who aren't subscribed. You need to be subscribing. Yeah, the people who don't subscribe, they actually still think the bus family owns this team.

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And so we will see. Everyone have a great weekend. We'll see on hopefully we, well, who knows? Something could happen. But if it doesn't, we'll see you on Monday. day.