The Los Angeles Lakers had an early exit from the postseason, running into the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, who proved to be a mismatch for the new-look Lakers. LA had no frontcourt play to stop Minnesota's combination of Julius Randle,

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.

Mavericks guard and former Doncic teammate Kyrie Irving is in the house at Crypto.com Arena for the pivotal matchup between the Lakers and the T-Wolves, sitting courtside as his former backcourt mate tries to stave off elimination.

After a disappointing first-round exit and a season filled with fireworks, the Lakers enter the offseason with more questions than answers.

The Lakers bought into first-year JJ Redick and added Luka Doncic in a shocking midseason trade, but fell short of competing for their first title since 2020.