The Los Angeles Lakers made wholesale roster changes this offseason to better build around franchise star Luka Doncic, but so far, it remains to be seen whether any of those free-agent and trade gambles will work out.
One of the players the Lakers brought in through a trade was Jaden Hardy, a young guard who, according to a recent prediction, has the chance to become a breakout star this season.
Los Angeles already has a strong core trio of Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler, but if they can have another big contributor like Hardy next year, that would be great news, as this roster needs all the help it can get for the 2026-27 NBA season and the team’s title hopes.
Lakers Free Agency Addition Predicted To Have Breakout Season
According to Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report, Hardy is predicted to be the Lakers’ top breakout candidate in his first season in the Purple and Gold next year.
“Picking a breakout candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers is difficult, as most of the talent on the roster is already in their mid-to-late 20s. Jaden Hardy, 24, still has some upside, although there’s no guarantee he’ll even be in the rotation,” he wrote.
Hardy arrived at the Lakers through a trade with the Washington Wizards that saw the team also add two second-round picks by sending out Deandre Ayton. Though he hasn’t been placed in a huge role through the first few seasons of his career, based on his skill set, that could change in Los Angeles.
“Some reason for optimism stems from his late-season run with the Washington Wizards last season, where Hardy shot 42.0 from three while averaging 12.6 points in 20.4 minutes off the bench,” Swartz added. “This kind of hot shooting from deep will pair nicely alongside Luka Dončić, although there would be some defensive concerns.”
Hardy himself feels as though playing with Doncic could improve his game, as the guard said so himself in a recent interview.
“Whenever I was playing alongside Luka, he used to always instill confidence into the young players, tell them to keep going, and I feel like that helped me a lot when I was a rookie. And playing alongside him then, in my second year where we went to the Finals, had a Finals run, he was big for me during that time and during that stretch. And he was someone that I could lean on and talk to,” the player mentioned in a video posted by the Lakers.
Jaden Hardy’s NBA Career So Far
As he mentioned, Hardy already has experience playing alongside Doncic, as he was drafted by the Mavericks with the 37th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Through his first few years in Dallas, Hardy’s averages hovered at about eight points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in roughly 15 minutes in 212 career games.
He was then traded to the Wizards at the 2026 NBA trade deadline, and in a slightly larger role, his scoring and shooting numbers increased to 12.6 points on 42% shooting from three-point range in 23 games before the season ended.
The guard was then traded to the Lakers as the team moved on from Ayton, where he is expected to be a backup player, but still with the chance to become a consistent name in head coach JJ Redick’s rotation.
The previous experience playing with Doncic helps, and if he can keep up his high-level three-point shooting, it’s hard not to see him getting a career-high in minutes next year in Los Angeles.
Hardy might not have been the biggest splash for the Lakers this offseason, but in the second season of a three-year, $18 million contract set to earn only $6 million this season, he could become one of the team’s best-value players, especially if Swartz’s prediction comes true.
That would also be great news for the Lakers, who could use a consistent shooting guard to come off the bench behind their star backcourt duo of Doncic and Reaves.
Lakers Dealt Exciting News If Latest Jaden Hardy Prediction Is True