The Los Angeles Lakers had a tough season during the 2021-22 season, and there is no doubt that the year overall was disappointing. The team went 33-49 and could not make it to the play-in tournament, despite star LeBron James’ fantastic individual season.
It is clear that the Los Angeles Lakers front office has done its best to reconstruct the roster this summer to avoid having another subpar season where they end up missing the playoffs.
One of the summer acquisitions for the Los Angeles Lakers was defensive guard Patrick Beverley. He was brought in to be a leader in the locker room due to his vocal nature. At one point, Patrick Beverley claimed that the Los Angeles Lakers would have made the Western Conference Finals under his leadership.
“If I was a free agent and I played for the Lakers, we’re going to the playoffs. We’re going to the Western Conference Finals. No discredit to LeBron James, but he’s doing so much… Who’s their leader? Who’s telling LeBron, ‘Hey LeBron, you gotta be low man, bro. That ain’t your help out. You gotta X-out.’ No one’s telling him that. Not on a consistent basis. I’m gonna tell everyone that because I want to win,” Beverley said.
It is clear that the guard is willing to be vocal to motivate his teammates. It seems as though Patrick Beverley has already identified one area to focus on as one of the team’s leaders.
Patrick Beverley Wants To Build A Brotherhood On The Lakers
Recently, Patrick Beverley vocalized a huge priority for the Los Angeles Lakers. He claimed that the first goal for the team is to “build” a brotherhood, adding that “basketball comes easy’ once that happens. Corey Hansford of Lakers Nation relayed the news.
“I just feel like, you go through a season especially with new guys, new faces, and a new team, I think you have to build that brotherhood first. That brotherhood comes with trust and once you build that brotherhood and you start to trust each other, I think the basketball comes easy.”
“And this is not even basketball. Two guys fell on the floor today. Half the team helped one guy up, half the team helped the other, that shows that we’re building a brotherhood here. And the more we do that, be a cohesive unit and be together, wins will come.”
What Patrick Beverley is saying makes total sense. Generally, players do better on the court together when they like each other. If all 15 players on a roster are on the same page about their goals, then the team as a whole will likely benefit.
Hopefully, we will see the Los Angeles Lakers have a great year and return to the postseason. Once they get there, they could potentially make a deep run if their stars are healthy, and we’ll see if Patrick Beverley can help the team get there.