The Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2021-22 season having acquired some massive names in the offseason. Now, almost all of those stars were out of their prime, but they still had enough sure-to-be Hall Of Famers on the roster to earn the moniker of a superteam. Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, a returning Dwight Howard, along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis was thought to be a team that would make some noise in the Western Conference, even if they aren’t at the peak of their powers.
A brief look at the Lakers’ history shows that their attempts to form superteams have never quite gone to plan. The 2004 team that included Gary Payton and Karl Malone alongside Kobe and Shaq at least got to the finals before losing against the Detroit Pistons. However, there is a more recent example that this current Lakers team is sharing their record after 51 games with. Oh, and it involved Dwight Howard too.
In 2012, the Lakers were two seasons removed from winning back-to-back championships with Kobe Bryant. To bolster their squad that included Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace (now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest), the Lakers acquired All-Stars Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. However, this went about as poorly as the current season has gone for the franchise.
That team started 15-16 before eventually ending up with a 24-27 record after 51 regular-season games. they had issues with their stars underperforming due to age and injuries. Dwight Howard struggled to fit in with the team thanks to his conditioning despite being one of the league’s biggest stars for half a decade prior. Sound familiar?
The Lakers this season have had similar issues. Their 24-27 record is the same as the 2012 team after 51 games, who went on to get swept in the first round of the playoffs, despite rallying to finish the season 45-37. With LeBron James currently missing time, the Lakers would very much take a 21-10 finish to the season, but it seems like a tall ask. If nothing else, this latest experiment has possibly finally taught the Lakers that superstars out of their primes are not the ideal building blocks for building a championship roster.
