The Los Angeles Lakers have been a subpar team for the majority of the season. There’s no doubt that they have disappointed as they were expected to be a championship contender, and they’re far from that.
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t looked like a stellar team this year, many people held out hope for a potential late-season run, and perhaps a playoff appearance via the play-in tournament.
Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Lakers, they will not even be appearing in the play-in tournament. The Phoenix Suns blew them out today, and the San Antonio Spurs ended up winning their matchup against the Denver Nuggets. A loss and win from the Spurs mean that the Lakers are officially eliminated from the play-in tournament and by extension playoff contention.
A lot of Lakers fans reacted to the team getting eliminated and blown out by the Phoenix Suns. It is clear that Lakers fans were not happy, while other fans took the opportunity to roast the Lakers and their squad.
The Lakers are officially eliminated from the play-in tournament. pic.twitter.com/16ASNbi6UG
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 6, 2022
Final from Arizona pic.twitter.com/fuA3kEZDkj
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 6, 2022
There’s no doubt that the Los Angeles Lakers have some work ahead of them if they are to become a championship-level team once again. They have been a disappointment, and Magic Johnson has recently blasted them, saying that they need to “quit making excuses”.
Molly Qerim: We know about the injuries. Tell me this, what went wrong for the Lakers?
Magic Johnson: That can’t be the excuse, though, Molly, because AD was out last year and we made the play-in game and we made the playoffs… Accountability is big here, and the Lakers all season have not taken accountability.”
“Whether that’s individual play, whether that’s on the defensive end, whether that’s playing together, Stephen A., my problem is with them making all these excuses, making excuses again. Quit making excuses! This thing did not work out, the parts did not fit.”
Hopefully, the Los Angeles Lakers are able to improve in the future. It is unfortunate that a team with that much star power won’t be making the playoffs, but they are simply not a good team as of right now.
There will need to be some roster changes this summer if the Los Angeles Lakers want to become a top-tier team. It remains to be seen what those are, but it’s clear that something must be done for them to get back to contention.
