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The Los Angeles Lakers had a unique offseason, as the players were flown to Slovenia, Luka Doncic’s home country, for a lavish team-building session. From playing golf to dining at luxurious restaurants to fishing in a stunning Lake Bled, the Lakers had an incredible time together, which they hope will translate into better chemistry on and off the floor once the 2026-27 season starts.
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Jarred Vanderbilt dropped a documentary of the Lakers team Slovenia trip on his IG pic.twitter.com/RACY4iLJXp
– LakersMuse (@LALMuse) September 8, 2026
However, former three-time NBA champion Byron Scott expressed skepticism regarding the excursion. While all is well when everyone is having a great time, he asserted that the true measure of a team’s togetherness lies in how they react when adversity hits them during the season.
Adversity reveals a team’s true character
Doncic’s efforts to bring his team together in what will be his first season as the undisputed main man of the Lakers were laudable. He spared no expense or resource, chartering a luxury Bombardier Global 8000 private jet to fly players and staff members to Ljubljana and planning every single detail of the team’s trip.
But while all the goodwill the Lakers have amassed will bode well for them when the season starts, B-Scott questioned if that will hold up when they begin losing games.
“Adversity shows the true character of a man. So once they start losing a few games, that’s when you going to see how really good and tight these guys are,” Byron
“‘Cause, you know, back in our day, we lose two in a row, that was like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’ You know, we had meetings after losing two in a row, and like, ‘Hey, man, let’s get our s–t together and get back to winning again.'”
“I think he made a great gesture as far as getting everybody over there. How long is that going to continue?” he added.
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The pressure is on
All eyes are on the Lakers right now. With their revamped roster that saw them pick up talented 7’2″ center Walker Kessler and savvy guard Collin Sexton, not to mention the ownership change that stunned the basketball world, many are excited to see how this new era of Lakers basketball will unfold.
Byron, though, clarified that despite all the changes, when it comes to the purple and gold, the expectations remain the same: to win championships.
“Ain’t no grace period where they going to say, you know, we as fans going to say, ‘Well, we give him two or three years.’ Oh, hell no. No, no, no. We expect here in L.A. to win championships. So that is right now,” Scott exclaimed.
Former NBA big man Olden Polynice expressed that he doesn’t get that vibe from this Lakers team.
“I don’t believe that’s the case with the Lakers,” he said. “I think they’re like, uh, you know, ‘We’re going to do what we can and, you know, hope to keep these fans off, you know, from booing us,’ and stuff like that. I don’t think that they actually believe we can win a championship. And so, to me, that’s going to be the key issue.”
With the Lakers’ high-scoring backcourt of Luka and Austin Reaves, they have more than enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with any NBA squad. However, given their defensive shortcomings, it will be interesting to see how they sort things out amongst themselves when defensive mistakes pile up.
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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 11:26 PM.