The Los Angeles Lakers are 31-47 on the season with 4 games left to play. The Lakers are technically 3 games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the final play-in spot due to the tiebreaker. This Lakers season has been a complete failure due to roster construction and injuries. The team was poorly constructed with veterans and not enough shooting around the 3 stars of the team. The culture of the team was never built on everyone knowing their roles and doing their job on both ends of the floor.
Entering the 2021-22 season, the Lakers were going to change Anthony Davis full time position from the 4 to the 5. In today’s nba, this is pretty normal for most teams to have 1 big and 4 smaller players that handle, distribute, and score the ball. The problem is Davis is a better weakside help defender than the main rim protector for the Lakers. Davis thrived on both ends next to Javale McGee and Dwight Howard just 2 seasons ago. The Lakers defense in the paint was nonexistent if AD was on a switch to a guard or on the bench.
Russell Westbrook has gotten a lot of blame for the Lakers inability to win games this season. Westbrook has played 77 games this season and his 3.8 turnovers per game are his lowest since the 2013-14 season. Westbrook has had to adjust to LeBron James which is not easy considering they are both ball dominant players. The problem with the team is the lack of respected shooters to space the floor for Westbrook to attack the paint. If the Lakers can acquire shooters alongside Westbrook, the results would be different.
The Lakers need major moves to be made if they want to be championship contenders while LeBron James is still on the team. 4 games remain and the Lakers can still make the play-in tournament.
Featured Image: NBA.com
