Early this season, it was discussed how the Los Angeles Lakers had dramatically improved on the defensive end, especially compared to the first year of the Luke Walton regime in 2016-17.
When the purple and gold started 2-5 this season, they were giving up 122.3 points per game, which is a surefire recipe for failure in the NBA, especially in this day and age of up-tempo offenses. But, then they signed backup center Tyson Chandler. After that, they did a 180 on the defensive end, climbing deep into the top-10 of defensive efficiency.