Los Angeles — Defense has been an early priority for the Lakers in training camp, and their wings are setting not just the tone but the standard.
The effort and physicality during Wednesday’s practice prompted JJ Redick to shorten portions of the session. Redick said the wings were the ones establishing that physicality, disrupting possessions early and maintaining pressure away from the ball.
By Friday, Ziaire Williams said that effort was creating expectations across the roster.
“We got some dogs on this team,” Williams said. “Everyone plays 1-4. All the wings are great. There’s no slack; you see four or five wings out there playing hard, everybody else has to pick it up a notch.”
Williams’ assessment echoed Walker Kessler’s confidence in a group he believes is being overlooked defensively.
“We’re going to be a nasty defensive team, I’m just being honest,” Kessler said this week. “We’re going to be really good defensively. We have a lot of defensive tools.”
Last season, the Lakers finished 20th in defensive efficiency. Improving that standing will require their new personnel to work together, connecting pressure on the perimeter with protection around the basket.
Quentin Grimes outlined his part in that approach at Monday’s Media Day. Conversations with Redick and assistant coach Greg St. Jean have focused on returning to the defensive responsibilities he carried early in his career with New York.
Alongside Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, Grimes can concentrate on defending opposing ball handlers and helping establish the intensity the Lakers want.
“Bringing that intensity, bringing that nastiness,” Grimes said on Media Day.
He identified Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle and Williams as teammates who can help make the Lakers one of the toughest, hardest-playing teams defensively.
Thybulle’s production offers an example of that disruptive potential.
He averaged 2.0 steals in just 16.0 minutes per game with Portland last season. Injuries limited him to 30 appearances, but his ability to create turnovers gives the Lakers another way to interrupt an opponent’s offense.
Now we haven't even gotten to the Lakers' biggest defensive piece they acquired this offseason in Kessler.
Kessler brings an established shot-blocking anchor to a team seeking elite defending inside.
In 2024-25, his last full season available, he averaged 2.4 blocks, ranking second in the NBA. A shoulder injury limited him to five games last season, so that earlier campaign provides a more substantial measure of his production.
Grimes said having Kessler behind him allows him to crowd ball handlers and defend with greater physicality. Beating the first defender would still leave an opponent facing a difficult finish.
“If you beat me, you got to see Walker at the rim,” Grimes said.
Kessler sees the relationship working both ways. A perimeter defender who stays on a driver’s hip helps him contest the shot rather than confront an attacker with an open path to the basket.
That cooperation matters as Redick evaluates combinations and players compete for starting roles. Grimes said he “100%” wants to start and welcomed the competition.
“I want to fight for it. I want to earn it,” he said.
The Lakers are counting on their perimeter defenders and Kessler to bring out the best in each other. Pressure on the ball can make his job easier inside, while his presence at the rim gives the wings confidence to defend aggressively.
That connection is central to the defense they are working to establish in camp, making for an anticapitating combination with Dončić's elite scoring.