Saturday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns has the Laker nation unwinding in full flow. The players who are caught in the middle have also started speaking about the problems within the team that has led this team, expected by the entirety of its fan base to at least make the playoffs, very likely to go on and miss the postseason entirely.
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Kyle Kuzma when asked if there are internal problems with the team, avoided the trade talks and its effects but when asked how Lakers could fix the said problems, responded with, “I am honestly not even sure. Obviously there’s something wrong with this team. It’s up to us to fix it.”
Well that seems like stating the obvious, but it matters that Laker players are finally involved in the discussion that fans have had ever sine LeBron went down with his groin injury.
Lakers players have had a media circus around them ever since the Anthony Davis trade talks began and they finally seem to be in a place where they want to talk about the internal issues of the Lakers locker room.
Josh Hart spoke about the trust issues within the team and how it has been a problem for the Lakers in these losses to tanking teams.
When asked about whether the Lakers trust each other enough right now Hart said, “If we want to get to the goal that we’ve set for ourselves in the season, we have to believe in each other. We have to believe. We have to trust each other. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day.”
If there was enough trust in the locker room, a yes would have been an easy answer. But instead Hart focused on the trust the Lakers need to have and not the trust the Lakers do have.
He also went into detail saying, “We can’t not pass someone the ball or not make a rotation or get our heads down when something doesn’t go our way. We have to as a unit when adversity starts, we have to come together, and that’s something we have to keep working toward.” he said.
“Like I said, we have the talent, we have the ability, we have the leadership to pile up wins and to make a run for the playoffs, but we have to do that as a collective unit.
“And if we don’t believe in each other, we don’t trust each other, offensively or defensively, we’re going to fail.
“That’s not how you win. This game is about team, it’s about being selfless, it’s about sacrificing for the next player, and if you can’t do that, you’re not going to find success.” he added
None of these are good signs for the Lakers heading into the home stretch of the play-off run. With just 19 games left, Lakers making the play-offs seems like a long shot given their current problems inside the locker room.
To make matters worse, former Laker and a fan favorite, Ivica Zubac while speaking about the Clippers crushing win over Knicks spoke about the lack of constant effort with the Lakers in comparison to the Clippers.
He said, “When I was with the Lakers, we didn’t have nights like this. Every game was a close game for us, but now with the Clippers, this team is really locked in, every possession against every team.”
It points to the Lakers lax attitude in easier games where they seem to coast through mot of the game only finding an extra gear when they go down late in the 4th quarter.
It’s what we have seen over the past month against the likes of Grizzlies, Hawks, Pelicans and Suns. Problem for the Lakers is, their late game runs haven’t made up for the early lapses and leave them in a tough spot, that has fans already looking towards the off-season for any signs of positivity.
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