When you look at the Western Conference standings, it’s pretty clear that the LA Lakers are not where they want to be as a ball club. With an 11-16 record, they sit 12th in the West and 2.5 games back from the play-in spot.
Unless Rob Pelinka pulls off some kind of miracle trade, there is no help coming for this Lakers crew.
But even with all of that being true, not everybody is ready to give up on the Lakers‘ chances this season. On ESPN’s First Take Wednesday morning, Stephen A. Smith took a moment to reaffirm his faith in the Lakers and revealed he still has hope in what they can do.
“LeBron James is just phenomenal in terms of how he’s playing at this stage and point in his career. I can’t say enough good things about him. Russell Westbrook… what this dude is doing coming off the bench, I give him a lot of credit for. I didn’t think he could do it. I had questions as to whether or not his attitude would be right. He’s been a spark plug, he’s been in attack mode and I give him a lot of credit.”
In the same breath, he also called out Anthony Davis for costing the Lakers two wins this season.
“Anthony Davis is directly responsible for two losses: Philadelphia and last night (against Boston). In both losses he was in a position to ice the game at the free-throw line and he misses. But what I have to say about the Lakers is this… they are better defensively, they are clearly more athletic, and if the trio continues to play the way that they are playing, everybody ain’t Boston and Philadelphia and I think that they’ll win more games than they’ll lose and they’ll be int he playoffs. I just think they desperately need another shooter.”
.@stephenasmith still has hope for the Lakers' season 🤞 pic.twitter.com/oyCsKged0s
— First Take (@FirstTake) December 14, 2022
Lakers Fans Still Hopeful For A Major Turnaround
The Lakers have dug themselves a deep hole, but the season is still young. If Anthony Davis and LeBron James can play like the best players in the world, this team stands a chance against anyone.
So far, however, neither Davis nor James have been consistently good enough to generate a positive win-loss record for the Lakeshow. At the very least, fans are hoping it will be enough to get them a play-in spot.
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