The Los Angeles Lakers have been a very underwhelming team this season. While a lot of analysts have suggested that they would be competing for a championship at the beginning of the year, there have been a lot of factors that have prevented that from happening.
It is clear that many within the organization are disappointed at their season. A recent article by Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times has revealed that the “vibes in and around the team” are not “great”. Woike also added that “conversations with staff members and players” featured variations of the phrase “at least there’s only a month left”, obviously referring to the regular season. It seems clear that the Los Angeles Lakers have no championship aspirations this season, despite a previous report suggesting that they still want to compete for it this year.
The vibes in and around the team, as you’d expect, aren’t great.
Multiple conversations with staff members and players have included the some version of the phrase, “at least there’s only a month left” — not exactly the kind of message you hear from a group with realistic visions of playing until early summer.
No, the Lakers at their core have to know that they’re not good enough. LeBron James, as important of a barometer as any, has said so. After losing to Milwaukee earlier this season, he was clear about the team not being on the Bucks’ level.
After being swept by the Clippers in their season series, James said their city rivals were a better team. After losing to the Rockets, he clearly stated that the Lakers don’t have any margin for error against Houston — a team that’s 32 games below .500 with their eyes on the NBA lottery.
There is no doubt that the Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of holes on their roster. They are a poor defensive team and the roster has simply been unable to make things work as a unit. The front office clearly has a lot of work to do in the summer to improve the team.
It remains to be seen how the Los Angeles Lakers season will end. They don’t look like a team that will be competing past the first round of the playoffs, though with LeBron James on the roster, anything is possible.
