The Los Angeles Lakers entered this season with enormous expectations. On paper, a team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony seems like enough to bring home a title.
In fact, back in September, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins even went so far as to suggest the Purple and Gold were a 70-win team.
“What? This is another dead, bold lie,” said Perkins. ‘You cannot tell me that you’re about to have LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, all of these players and you’re telling me that they’re not going to have a 60-win season? Please. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they scratch the surface of hitting the 70-win season. Just look at the lineup.”
It was highly controversial at the time, and Perkins got a lot of heat for saying it.
But now, after the terrible season that the Lakers have had so far, those comments look even worse. And after his pre-season comment resurfaced on Saturday, Perkins was put on blast for it by the fans.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where things went wrong for the Lakers, but there are a few glaring issues they have dealt with all season long.
Health, of course, has not been on their side. Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and much of the supporting case have dealt with injuries over the course of the season.
There is also the play of Russel Westbrook, who is having one of the worst stretches of his entire career. So far, he has been unable to build chemistry with the guys and find his place on the team.
Whatever the case, the Lakers are bad and it has taken almost everyone by surprise.
Obviously, for Kendrick Perkins, this was not the result he had in mind.
