Magic Johnson puts Lakers on notice over defense after Bulls expose key weaknesses

Since trading for Luka Doncic, the LA Lakers have looked like one of the NBA's best teams offensively. However, after their latest outing, one franchise legend pointed out a key weakness of the new-look roster.

On Saturday night, LA found themselves matched up with a young and energetic Chicago Bulls team. Even with LeBron James making a return from injury, they weren't able to get into the win column. The Bulls went out and made a statement by scoring 146 points en route to a 31-point victory.

Following this blowout loss, Lakers legend Magic Johnson took to X (Formerly Twitter) to give his thoughts on the matchup. He was not pleased with the defensive effort, stating that it's something they need to clean up ahead of the postseason.

"C'mon Lakers, where was the defense last night? There's no way they should have allowed the Chicago Bulls to score 145 points, especially getting ready for the Playoffs!"

146 points is the most points LA has given up in a game by a wide margin. Prior to Saturday, the highest an opponent has scored against them this season was 134.

As Magic stated, LA does not want to have performances like this in the final weeks of the season. Even with their star power, they'll have no chance of contending in the playoffs if they can't consistently defend.

---

Chicago Bulls made history in their blowout win vs the LA Lakers

Along with being able to spoil things for a team battling for playoff position, the Chicago Bulls managed to make franchise history on Saturday. 31 points is now a team record for their largest margin of victory against the LA Lakers.

It took a group effort to pick up the blowout victory over LA, but the Bulls had a trio of primary standouts. The first was Josh Giddey, who nearly ended the night with a quadruple-double. In 33 minutes of action, he posted a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 17 assists and eight steals.

The next player who deserves a shoutout from Chicago is Coby White. He led the charge in the scoring department, finishing with a team-high 36 points on efficient 12-for-17 shooting from the field.

Rounding things out for the Bulls was rookie forward Matas Buzelis. He set a new career-high against LA, notching 31 points on the night. Most of Buzelis' damage was done from beyond the arc, as he converted five of his 10 attempts.

Dropping this game could come back to bite LA. They are in an air-tight race for playoff position with the Denver Nuggets, who managed to jump them for third place following Saturday's loss.

LA still has time to reclaim the No. 3 seed, but they can't afford any more lapses against teams that aren't looking to compete anymore.