Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on April 13 that his team is preparing to face the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs after finishing the regular season with a 53-29 record.
The playoff seeding was determined after the Lakers won their final game, but a Denver Nuggets victory kept Los Angeles as the fourth seed. As a result, they will play Houston instead of Minnesota in the opening round. The matchup comes after a season where Los Angeles won two out of three games against Houston.
Redick said that all potential opponents presented challenges and emphasized readiness for postseason competition. “Yeah, again, we have tried for the last six weeks to build towards the playoffs,” he said. “Both in our mentality with our habits, all that stuff. We knew the reality whether we got the three, four, five, six [seed], whatever it was, there’s no easy matchup. All those teams slotted there are tough teams. Whether it was gonna end up being Denver [Nuggets], Minnesota [Timberwolves] or Houston [Rockets].”
He continued: “Houston’s obviously a really good basketball team and we’re gonna prepare and we’re gonna fight and we’re gonna go try to win the series. Going into today we told the team like it was; it’s not about the opponent, it’s about us. And now it is about the opponent. We’re gonna do everything we can to get our guys in a great frame of mind, great physical shape over the next four or five days and be ready to play.”
The Lakers will enter this series without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves due to injuries. LeBron James has resumed his role as primary scorer while Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard have provided support in playmaking duties.
Despite these absences for Los Angeles, Houston faces its own challenges generating offense without Kevin Durant available for their lineup.
Reflecting on overcoming adversity during an injury-filled season but still securing home-court advantage in round one of playoffs, Redick praised his players’ efforts.
