LOS ANGELES, CA – It almost feels like another lifetime ago when there was such much hope and excitement surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers heading into this 2021-2022 season.
(Courtesy of Bleacher Report)
They acquired former MVP Russell Westbrook to create a “Big 3” with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. They added other veterans like Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and Trevor Ariza and some talented young players like Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn.
This year was going to make last season look like an outlier. They were going to get back on a championship track. They were supposed to roll through the Western Conference with this deeper and more talented squad, take pressure off of LBJ and AD, and be one of the last teams standing, and hopefully face off against the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Finals.
Now fast-forward to late December. They are just 16-16 through 32 games and currently sit in the seven seed of the hypercompetitive Western Conference. If the playoffs started today, they would have to participate in the Play-In tournament yet again and face the Phoenix Suns or Golden State Warriors in the first round, two teams that are dominating the league right now.
The roster has been riddled with injuries to several key players including Ariza, Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker, and recently Davis who sprained his MCL and will be out for the next month. Not to mention, they are trying to navigate through a COVID outbreak that has hit them and many other teams hard in December.
Westbrook has not made the type of impact many were hoping for on either end of the floor, with bad decision-making leading to several turnovers each game, poor shot selection, and lackluster defense. He’s an example of how numbers don’t tell an accurate story about his contributions to the team.
Davis wasn’t playing well before his most recent injury, shooting poorly from the perimeter at 18 percent from three-point range. Worse than that, AD has been outclassed and bullied by opposing big men like Karl-Anthony Towns and Giannis Antetokounmpo on many nights, and has failed to be a defensive leader on a team that is very flawed on that end.
In his 19th season, LeBron James is doing all he can to help the Lakers be competitive but even he’s had issues with an abdominal strain and ankle sprains. He’s playing at a high level but with this much talent around him; LeBron probably didn’t expect to be working this hard just for his team to have a chance to beat sub-.500 teams.
That has likely been the most difficult idea to comprehend about the Lakers’ struggles this season. It isn’t just they are a .500 team; it’s that they are .500 with a favorable schedule through the first half of the season. The Lakers have had issues beating younger, unproven teams who are likely lottery-bound.
The Lakers are three-point dependent offensively without a true identity on that end; the defense has been one of the worst in the league even with a defensive-minded coach like Frank Vogel, and they’ve failed to do the little things to win games like rebound, make free throws, and limit their turnovers.
At one point, can we stop using the excuses of “Wait until they’re healthy” or “It’s Early” and accept that this Lakers team is just not that good. They’re headed for disaster right now, and it’s unknown whether a healthy roster or a midseason trade can save them at this point.
This team is looking similar to the 2012-2013 Lakers with a younger Dwight but aging stars like Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash and a veteran roster that didn’t defend nor had an offensive identity. We all remember how that season ended up, right?
While there is still time to turn things around, the consistency (perhaps their biggest issue) also needs to improve dramatically. The Lakers can’t keep doing things like winning three straight and following that up with a three-game losing streak. If they are going to turn the tide, it has to be soon or this season will perhaps be known as the biggest disasters in the Lakers’ illustrious history.
