The Los Angeles Lakers revamped the roster this offseason, with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves as the primary focal points for the team.
The duo will help provide the offensive firepower necessary to win games during the regular season, but it’s the questions on defense that could determine how the season will play out for the team.
Second-year coach JJ Redick and the Lakers finished the 2025-26 season with a 53-29 record and in fourth place in the Western Conference. The Lakers reached the Western Conference semifinals but were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The roster was plagued with injuries throughout the season, with LeBron James, Reaves and Doncic all missing portions of the year.
With new pieces around star players, there will still be an expectation that the season will be defined by whether or not the franchise wins its 18th championship.
Here are some of the key games that will help shape the Lakers’ season:
1 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, Joshua Kushner, speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025. The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, are being sold to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Joshua Kushner in a deal valued at a reported $12.5 billion. The sale announced on August 12, 2026 would mark a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise and comes only about a year after billionaire Mark Walter agreed to buy a controlling interest in the team in a then-record $10 billion deal.
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP via Getty Images)
1 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, Joshua Kushner, speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025. The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, are being sold to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Joshua Kushner in a deal valued at a reported $12.5 billion. The sale announced on August 12, 2026 would mark a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise and comes only about a year after billionaire Mark Walter agreed to buy a controlling interest in the team in a then-record $10 billion deal.
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP via Getty Images)
2 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser (left) and co-founder Joshua Kushner want to leverage technology to make health care insurance as easy to interactive with as an e-commerce site. Joshua is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Trump.
(Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)
3 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss attend The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City. They married in 2018 and have three children, sons Levi and Elijah and a daughter, Rae.
(Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images)
4 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss attend The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023 in New York City.
(Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images)
5 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Karlie Kloss, CEO of Bedford Media and Joshua Kushner, Founder and CEO of Thrive Capital at Fortune Global Forum Gala Dinner celebrating Fortune’s 100 Most Powerful People in Business list during the Fortune Global Forum on Nov. 11, 2024 in New York City.
(Jemal Countess, Getty Images for Fortune Media)
6 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Joshua Kushner, Founder and CEO, Thrive Capital, speaks onstage during the Big Bets panel at the Fortune Global Forum 2024 on Nov. 12, 2024 in New York City.
(Jemal Countess, Getty Images for Fortune Media)
7 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, Joshua Kushner, speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP via Getty Images)
8 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver, Joshua Kushner and CEO of Disney Bob Iger attend the Men’s Quarterfinal match between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Taylor Fritz of the United States on Day Ten of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sept. 2, 2025 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.
(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)
9 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner attend the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif.
(Neilson Barnard, Getty Images)
10 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner attend the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2026 in New York City.
(Julian Hamilton, Getty Images)
11 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Joshua Kushner attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2026 in New York City.
(Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images)
12 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Josh Kushner, founder and CEO of Thrive Capital, and his wife Karlie Kloss attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 7, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every year, some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful figures from the media, finance, technology, and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference hosted by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.
(Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images)
13 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Josh Kushner, founder and CEO of Thrive Capital, and his wife Karlie Kloss attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 8, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every year, some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful figures from the media, finance, technology, and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference hosted by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.
(Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images)
14 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Josh Kushner, founder and CEO of Thrive Capital, and Lee Styslinger, co-owner of Altec, Inc., attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July , 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every year, some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful figures from the media, finance, technology, and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference hosted by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.
(Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images)
15 / 15
Joshua Kushner makes a bold move from investor to NBA owner
Founder and CEO of Thrive Capital Josh Kushner attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 10, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every year, some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful figures from the media, finance, technology, and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference hosted by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.
(Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images)
Lakers’ key games for 2026-27 season
Golden State Warriors at Lakers, Oct. 21 (Opening night)
The Lakers will host the Warriors at home to open the season. It will set an early tone for what a healthy roster could look like for the purple and yellow.
Lakers at San Antonio Spurs, Nov. 27
The Lakers visit Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs for their first true test of the season against a Western Conference contender.
Philadelphia 76ers at Lakers, Dec. 25 (Christmas)
LeBron James returns to Los Angeles, where he had spent the past eight seasons of his career. The 76ers are expected to be one of the top contenders in the East. It will be the first of two meetings between the teams.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Lakers, Jan. 1
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will present one of the toughest challenges for the Lakers this season. The series includes three games, but they won’t take place until the back half of the season.
Boston Celtics vs. Lakers, Jan. 7
The Lakers will host the rival Celtics in a featured game on Prime. It will be just the first of two games on the schedule between the two teams. The second game will happen in Boston.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lakers schedule: Notable games that will shape 2026-27 season
