The Los Angeles Lakers have been a subpar team all season. While they started the season as championship hopefuls, they are currently fighting to retain the 9th seed and potentially make the playoffs through the play-in tournament.
Recently, the Los Angeles Lakers ended up losing to the Toronto Raptors, in an absolute blowout, 114-103. This marks the fourth loss in five games for the team, and that is clearly not the way they were hoping to finish the season.
While LeBron James managed to put up a decent stat line of 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, it was not enough to lift the Los Angeles Lakers over the Toronto Raptors. Lakers fans were devastated after the loss, and it seems as though things look hopeless for the Lakers’ fanbase.
🔘🔘🔘🔘 pic.twitter.com/cb6a6FTM0o
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 15, 2022
There is no doubt that the Los Angeles Lakers will have a lot of work to do in the summer if they are to become a championship contender next season. One of the questions will be about Russell Westbrook’s future, and some reports suggest there’s no chance he’ll be a Lakers player next season.
Jousting with reporters in press conferences is apparently not the lone source of pushback these days from under-fire guard Russell Westbrook. There has been no shortage of defiance behind the scenes, I’m told, when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in role or approach with the former MVP. For all the obvious complexities involved in trying to move Westbrook when he’s owed a whopping $47 million next season at age 34, one league source described the idea of bringing him back next season as “impossible” based on current tension levels. The question then becomes: If the Lakers can’t construct a palatable trade, do they try to just buy Westbrook out? Or waive and stretch him?
Hopefully, we see the Los Angeles Lakers figure out how to improve the team by the start of next season. It’s hard to see them go far in the playoffs now, given the lack of chemistry and injury issues that the team currently faces.
A team that features stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis should not be in the play-in tournament. Perhaps we’ll see things change in the future, but as of now, they need to focus on retaining a play-in tournament spot and potentially making the playoffs via that route.
