Michael Porter Jr. dismissed the Lakers' post-LeBron championship hopes

Basketball admin September 18, 2026 0 Comments

Michael Porter Jr. dismissed the Lakers’ post-LeBron championship hopes

The Los Angeles Lakers entered this offseason in the best position possible. LeBron James’ money was coming off the books; they had three tradable first-round picks, the most cap space in the league, and all the options in the world. In a matter of moments, all that changed as Rob Pelinka made big swings to drastically improve the roster around superstar duo Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

MPJ doesn’t like the Lakers new roster

Within an hour, it was announced that they had traded for Walker Kessler, signed Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes and Colin Sexton. The deals were met by mixed reviews. Some fans made the case that the Lakers landed a franchise center and got younger and more athletic. Others were disgusted by the lack of star power and the obvious holes in the wings that the roster still has.

When it comes to the current players in the league, the sentiment has been indifferent, too. The latest player to give his opinion on the current Lakers roster is Michael Porter Jr, who thinks the roster is subpar.

“Yeah, I don’t like that roster. To be a championship roster, they might be solid but I don’t see them winning a chip,” he said.

Was MPJ Harsh but fair about the Lakers?

Porter Jr didn’t mince his words, and to be honest, you can’t blame him. Feeling underwhelmed about a Lakers roster that clearly lacks star power and talent on the wings is enough in itself to call this offseason a failure.

Considering the options they had coming into this offseason, for them not to land anyone other than Kessler Walker, who was a high-level starter for the team they’re coming from, is both puzzling and unacceptable.

Doncic and Reaves are in the prime of their careers, the Lakers just watched a 41-year-old LeBron lead them to a playoff series win against a heavily favored Houston Rockets team, and they didn’t bring back a single starter from that series this offseason, including James.

Porter knows what it takes to win a championship, and his confidence in this roster speaks volumes about how high-level players around the league may collectively feel about them.

The Lakers could actually use MPJ

Speaking of the wings, ironically enough, the Lakers could absolutely use someone with MPJ’s skillset. There is a clear deficiency on the wing and a need for individual shot creation; he could walk through the door on day one and feel that void.

Porter Jr had an incredible personal campaign last season with the Brooklyn Nets, which put him in the mix to be an All-Star, and will be one of the more coveted wings this upcoming season as he and the Nets remain far away from agreeing on an extension.

It’s likely a contender comes calling when the time is right, and the Nets ship him off for a nice package on the way out.

MPJ has been on a wild media tour this offseason with streams and with his podcast. Many believe that he’s gone too far with the guests and conversations, but he’s unapologetic about who he is and his views. It seems as though he’s very comfortable in blatantly speaking his mind, even if it might be controversial, and we can add the criticism of the Lakers roster to the list.

This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 11:19 AM.