​LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Luka Doncic #77 and Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers hold hands during a time out in the second half of a game against the Chicago Bulls at Crypto.com Arena on March 12, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) GettyThe Los Angeles Lakers are entering this season with a lot of pressure to validate their risky offseason moves. Former Lakers guard Byron Scott delivered a damning statement about the team failing to have any chance of title contention. The new era of Luka Doncic sees the Lakers hoping to win an NBA Championship with him as the face of the franchise. However, Scott delivered the following message on his podcast comment to remind Lakers fans of the team’s likely reality: “I’m not going to say borderline. They’re pretenders… I think they’ll make the playoffs, but again, to [Olden Polynice’s] point, defense wins championships still in this league. I know we glorify the threes and all the offense and things of that nature, but at the end of the day, you got to get stops, right?” Most pundits question the Lakers’ chances of contending against the elite West teams due to pure talent. Scott made sure to bring up defense as his rationale for not trusting this team to accomplish much. The duo of Doncic and Austin Reaves were unofficially called out by Scott here since he doesn’t believe a team led by them can win. Scott has questioned believing in a team’s top two stars failing to play effective defense. Byron Scott Commented On New Lakers Star The Lakers biggest addition to the team featured trading draft picks to land Walker Kessler. Rob Pelinka listened to Luka’s request to add a reliable center who can anchor a defense and provide athleticism, but many have questioned this move. Scott made a bold claim about what Kessler must do to help the Lakers’ win: “And Kessler at the center position, he better average about eight blocks a game. Because they going to be getting a lot of blowbys, and the guys going to get to that basket.” Scott is partially joking since no one is ever going to average 8 blocks per game, unless Victor Wembanyama is even more generational than we’ve already seen. However, his point is that Kessler must stop players on every possession for getting past Doncic and Reaves. The Lakers must find a way to play effective team defense, and Scott has zero confidence in that happening. Lakers Could Fire Rob Pelinka If Scott Is Right Pelinka took a huge gamble on losing LeBron James after he was a top three player for the team last season. However, the Lakers felt it was the right move to prioritize paying Reaves and going after a center, even if it alienated James. More losses like Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart could be the bigger issue since last season’s team had solid depth. Kessler being able to lead the defense to respectability is what this offseason will come down to and how fans react. A bad season w