CBS Sports ranked all 30 NBA offenses ahead of the 2026-27 season and put the Lakers at No. 3. Only the Knicks, ranked first, and one other team are projected ahead of them. CBS’s case comes down to Luka Dončić, along with a supporting cast that can finally shoot. The outlet’s verdict is blunt: “The Lakers are going to be great offensively.”
A Top-Three Spot Built on the Post-LeBron Lineups
CBS ranked the teams by predicting what the offensive rating leaderboard will look like at season’s end, so this is a projection of points per possession. It is not a measure of style. In short, CBS argues that the Dončić-Reaves lineups without LeBron James were already excellent and now become the default, and the added depth and shooting should push Redick’s shot profile where he wants it. The outlet named two concerns: pace and lineup building.
National Analysts Agree on the Offense
CBS has plenty of company. ESPN’s Ben Golliver, writing in a newcomers preview, said the Lakers could boast a top-five offense despite losing James in free agency. ESPN’s Future Power Rankings went further. Their bold prediction was that Doncic will lead the most efficient offense in Lakers history.
That ESPN exercise is also where the consensus splits. ESPN placed the Lakers just 13th in its three-year outlook. The national read has two halves: the offense is elite, and the team as a whole is not. CBS ranked only one side of the ball, so its No. 3 sits comfortably inside that consensus.
The evidence everyone is leaning on comes from a specific stretch of last season. Per NBA.com’s season preview, the Lakers outscored opponents by 10.1 points per 100 possessions (with the numbers of an elite offense) in 532 minutes with the backcourt duo on the floor without James. NBA.com also noted the team finished 22nd in pace and 23rd in made 3-pointers last season, and the offseason was built to fix that shooting gap.
The skeptics are mostly talking about defense, not the offense. The roster lost Marcus Smart. As CBS itself acknowledges, every defense-first lineup Redick uses will cost him something on offense.
Third Is the Right Call
The ranking is fair, and the pace concern matters less than it sounds. CBS is projecting offensive rating, which is measured per 100 possessions. A slow Dončić team only hurts that number if playing slow costs it easy transition baskets, and slowness alone does not. Redick has also shown he can produce efficiency with poor fits. CBS’s coaching rankings noted that last year’s Lakers set the record for the highest 2-point percentage in NBA history.
The weaker part of the argument is the evidence behind it. The 532 minutes are a strong sample, but they are still a sample, and they came with the opponent’s game plan built around James as well. The bigger issue is that the projection depends on Dončić being healthy. His hamstring injury kept him out of last season’s playoff run. CBS says Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes can step up if a star misses time. That is true for a few weeks, but it is not a plan for a top-three offense.
The other real risk is the trade-off CBS raised. If the defense struggles badly enough that Redick has to keep non-shooters like Jarred Vanderbilt on the floor, the spacing that justifies this ranking gets thinner. That pressure seems likely given last season’s defense and Smart’s departure.
The final verdict: if Dončić stays healthy, No. 3 is about right, and passing the Knicks is possible. If he misses meaningful time, a finish in the 6-to-10 range is more realistic. The national consensus and CBS are correctly bullish on this offense, and the open questions are about Dončić’s health and the defense.
Source: CBS Sports
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