In the aftermath of a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, LeBron James did not mince words on the state of his team. At 11-9 overall, James admits that he doesn’t yet know the identity of the Lakers this season amid all the injuries to their core players.
“I have no idea what we are,” James said, via The Athletic. “How? We don’t have a group yet. I know what some of us individually are, but as far as a team, we don’t have our group yet. I don’t know. We haven’t logged enough minutes with our group where we know, ‘OK, we got the starting group, we got the guys coming in, we got a good rhythm.’ I mean, we’re over .500. We’re 11-9 with literally not ever having our same group. That’s pretty impressive.”
LeBron admitted that a “lot” had to change after their most recent loss, but maybe the best thing for the Lakers right now is staying the course until their missing guys come back. While Anthony Davis and LeBron have been relatively healthy, several important rotation guys have missed time this season, including Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent, and Rui Hachimura.
A Slow Start For The Lakers
Los Angeles was feeling good about their title chances this season, and the thinking was that a revamped supporting cast would put the Lakers back in the realm of title contention. So far, that just hasn’t been the case. Even amid strong play from LeBron James in his 21st season, the Purple and Gold have struggled to find consistency and are 11-9 thanks to an injury-plagued rotation and several players struggling to find their rhythm.
Ranked 18th in offense, the team lacks the proper shooting to keep up with elite contenders, and their defense, which ranks 13th, isn’t as great as it was during the 2020 bubble run. The hope for the team is that the return of Vanderbilt, Reddish, and Hacimura will be enough to get them back on track and give the Lakers a better idea of how they stack up in the Western Conference.
LeBron Is Still Fighting
No matter what happens with the Lakers this season, LeBron James deserves major credit for what he’s been able to do at 38 years old. In 19 games so far, the King is averaging 24.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game on 55.9% shooting. He’s played almost every game for the team this season and has been consistently among their best performers since opening night.
Even so, James cannot keep going like this forever and the Lakers shouldn’t make him keep pushing like this if they want to extend his career into 2024 and beyond. The key for this franchise will be managing the load for James and using Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell to lead the way until the postseason begins. The Lakers could also look at acquiring a star like Zach LaVine to increase their potency on offense. But with Lebron still playing some great basketball, the Lakers don’t want to waste any more time on the tier of mediocrity.
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