By far the greatest disappointment of the NBA season has been the world famous Los Angeles Lakers. Featuring the likes of GOAT contender LeBron James, perennial all-star Anthony Davis and triple double machine Russell Westbrook. Before the season started every analyst you could think of had them as legitimate threat to win the championship. They had the Lakers as a top seed and LeBron as an MVP candidate. They couldn’t be more wrong. As it stands the Lakers are a shocking 11 games below .500 and sit at a lowly 9th on western conference’s pecking order. Their best shot to make the playoffs would be to navigate a couple of tricky fixtures in the Play-In tournament set for next month. How could experts be so wrong? How can a team with superstars all over be having such an abysmal season? I’ll offer you to a few reasons why!
AGE : The Lakers with an average team age of 30.1 are the oldest team in the NBA. 4 years older then the league average of 26.1. The frantic pace of modern day basketball does not favor aged legs. LeBron at age 37 is an anomaly. He’s been playing spectacularly on the offense end at a level no one his age ever has , but even he can’t keep up the energy on defense. Younger more explosive teams regularly out hustle and out run the Lakers. Making game plans irrelevant as they simply can’t keep up. Last night versus the Timberwolves was a textbook example of youthful exuberance having the upper hand. At this point the Lakers would need a time machine to salvage this season.
The Russell Westbrook Effect: The truth hurts and the truth is Russell Westbrook has been absolutely horrible this season. The mercurial point guard has always been a topic of hot debate. His explosiveness, work rate and astronomical stats have always been applauded. However his turnover prone, reckless play and bad shooting have been a cause for concern. This year it has been more of the latter. Add that to the fact it just doesn’t seem like the right fit beside LeBron , his struggles are even further highlighted.
So what’s the way forward for the Lakers? This is a tough one. The Lakers in effect mortgaged their future to get Anthony Davis a few years back. Leaving them with no draft picks to potentially recruit a young star. They have limited trade options due to high contractual obligations and the poor perception of their roster. It is going to take some managerial genius on the part of Rob Pelinka (Lakers GM) to get them out of this pickle.
By : Kofi Toronto
