The Los Angeles Lakers had an early exit from the playoffs. losing in five games in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was good for the Lakers to reach the three-seed in the West after the shocking midseason trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic to LA.

After the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff elimination, LeBron James addressed the controversial mid-season trade of Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James, saw their 2025 postseason run come to a grinding halt following a hard-fought loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5.

No one is saying that the Lakers should go back and undo the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade. Los Angeles got the face of its franchise for the next decade, and he seems to be happy about it, too. But it was hard to watch the Lakers fall to the Timberwolves (specifically 27 points on 12-15 FG from Rudy Gobert) and wonder about how things could've looked differently.