The Los Angeles Lakers as we once knew them are dead in the water
Nostalgia is a dangerous drug. Like an ex from a previous relationship or a vacation spot you frequented long ago, nostalgia intoxicates you with warm memories that contrast with today’s realities. Take the Los Angeles Lakers, for example. The dynamic duos of yesteryear include Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. All of them became NBA champions. This is how you get to 17 championships, tied for most in NBA history. Or so the blueprint is written. But this is 2022 and relying on yesterday’s blueprint has led to the Los Angeles Lakers’ demise.
R.I.P. Lakers 1960-2020
This is how their obituary will read:
Rest in peace to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers’ last hoorah was the 2020 NBA championship in the bubble in Orlando. The dynamic duo of NBA superstar LeBron James and fellow NBA 75th Anniversary Team member Anthony Davis beat the Miami Heat in six grueling games.
We didn’t know it at the time, but it was their last ditch effort to remain in championship contention. The Lakers as we know them are now no more. We can’t say they are the Orlando Magic or some other moribund franchise destined to be forgotten. We do not, however, recognize this team.
The Lakers’ regular-season record since the 2020 championship has been a pedestrian 69 wins against 65 losses. They currently rank 9th in the Western Conference and are in danger of participating in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament for the second year in a row.
Rumors abound about the potential of LeBron James bolting to another team as he has done before. But this is a team that features future Hall-of-Famers in Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Russell Westbrook, and Davis. The hope for title contention is drowning in deep waters of uncertainty.
They are survived by owner Jeanie Buss, maybe General Manager Mitch Kupchak, and Lakers fans who will look back on championship glory days the way Dallas Cowboy fans love to do.
What happened to this team?
Injuries
The demise of the Los Angeles Lakers begins with injuries.
Anthony Davis can’t seem to stay healthy. He played 37 games last season, which is one game more than he has played this season. Davis’ injury report seemingly hits every ligament like the old hit board game of Operation.
Lebron has been a superman of sorts throughout his legendary 19-year career but the NBA minutes and playoff runs and Olympic summers have taken their toll. Many of his more recent ailments have resulted in extended absences which have cost the Lakers at least one playoff birth since he arrived in 2018. Strained groins, abdominals, and other ailments can take weeks to rehab. Many Western Conference teams such as the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns have improved over the years forcing LeBron to shorten rehab schedules and play through injuries to remain in the playoff hunt.
Free-Agent Failures
The Lakers’ prize free-agent of last summer was little-known third-year point guard, Kendrick Nunn. Nunn was last seen in a Miami Heat uniform as he has failed to play a game this season due to a knee injury.
The Los Angeles Lakers re-signed Talen Horton-Tucker to a three-year deal. The third-year guard has been placed in thousands of trade scenarios since he put ink to paper. This spells trouble for a franchise trying to convince players to sign with them. Defensive wizard and former Texas A&M star Alex Caruso was treated similarly and he responded by bolting to the Chicago Bulls in free agency.
The average age of the 2020 champion Lakers was 28 years old. The team’s youth absorbing minutes allowed LeBron to average 34 minutes a game. Along with the COVID-19 induced mid-season break, this played a role in keeping LeBron fresh for success.
The Lakers responded to that season by now having the oldest team in the league. They began the season with six of the twelve oldest players in the league on their roster. LeBron is up to nearly 37 minutes a game, ranking third in the NBA. Why are the Lakers signing the likes of 36-year-old Trevor Ariza and 37-year-old Carmelo Anthony?
Trade Failures
The Lakers have few future trade assets in their control because they mortgaged their future for the present.
The trade for Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans cost the Lakers control over their first-round picks from now until 2027. They do not have a second-round pick until 2024. As a team over the cap, they are forced to sign mostly minimum salaried players. All of this was fine when they first constructed this team around LeBron as they had some depth in Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and others. They traded all of their depth to get Russell Westbrook. Now that the move appears to have failed, the Lakers are pretty much out of options. This is their team for this year and next.
Rumor has it that they had a chance to improve this season by including their 2027 first-round pick in a trade. Ownership not biting tells me that the expectations for this team are low.
Depending on the old blueprint of shopping in the buyout market is also failing. In 2022, teams agree with players to sit them with pay rather than cut them. It is a product of the players making so much guaranteed money that they refuse to be bought out of their contracts. Kemba Walker and John Wall are currently making millions to sit at home.
If their present is bleak, where do they turn? I guess they turn around mid-game to talk to the crowd.
Fan Turmoil
Alienating the fans will be the demise of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers now have these kinds of exchanges with fans both at home and on the road. Warning: Some NSFW language included.
The Lakers season has been so brutal that we’re at a point where LeBron, Ariza and Russ are now arguing with fans lol
— Nicole Ganglani (@nicoleganglani) February 28, 2022
(c) Michael Morales/Instagram pic.twitter.com/yuViF4dZPw
Upcoming Schedule
Get used to it Laker fans. When you are mediocre, every stretch of games seems like a murderer’s row. Ten out of their next fourteen games are on the road. Only two games are against teams that are not in playoff contention. The Lakers have lost eleven of their past fourteen games. The body language on the court tells me that they are desperately searching for solutions.
The torture will be televised too. Half of the Lakers’ final twenty games are on the national TV schedule. The fourth most expensive NBA roster is currently in ninth place with no upside potential of youth or future draft picks. Scary times.
The New Blueprint
The demise of the Los Angeles Lakers was swift but not unexpected.
The blueprint for success is not the high-priced free agent duos and trios anymore. Home grown talent like Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker, and Ja Morant inspire championship hopes in today’s NBA. The days of picking up a Shaq or a LeBron in the summer and going to multiple NBA Finals are over. The Brooklyn Nets are learning this now as they pivot from James Harden to the Ben Simmons experiment. But the Lakers appear set on this path of mediocrity for years to come.
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