The Los Angeles Lakers have taken their fans on a roller coaster ride this season. In just 21 games, there have been several good and bad patches, but the loss against the Timberwolves seems to have given them a brutal reality check. The team is struggling, especially on the offensive end and JJ Redick didn’t mince his words while listing out the team’s flaws after the game.
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“It’s looking more and more like it’s not an aberration,” Redick told reporters. Jeff Teague also shared his thoughts on the Lakers’ failures on the Club 520 Podcast and it seemed to be similar to that of Redick. Teague emphasized the lack of good combinations within the team, which seems to be the need of the hour for the Lakers.
He believes that in Austin Reaves’ absence, the team doesn’t have the same ball movement. Therefore, the Lakers struggle to score when the 26-year-old is not in their rotation. He said, “They gotta figure out a combination like, when Austin Reaves don’t play, their ball movement and their combination just don’t work.”
The 36-year-old added that he is also disappointed in Cam Reddish’s output for the Lakers as he had high hopes for the 25-year-old. JT thought that Reddish had the potential to turn into an offensive threat for his team, but right now, he can barely score. Teague added, “He got the skillset, I just don’t know why it hasn’t clicked yet.”
The Lakers’ problems aren’t limited to just Reaves’ absence or Reddish’s inability to score. They are failing as a unit and the blowout losses are a testament to that. At this pace, soon they’ll be completely discarded as title contenders.
The Los Angeles Lakers season is in a slump
The Lakers didn’t really make a lot of effort during the offseason to strengthen their roster. When the team was without a coach for nearly two months, trading for players might not have been their top priority. Redick’s energetic coaching stint has failed to hide that issue.
The Lakers went 3-0 in the opening stretch of the season, giving hopes to the fans that they were aiming for the title. However, it didn’t take long for their campaign to go off track as they lost four of the next five games. More recently, they’re losing games in embarrassing fashion.
Their last four losses have been by 29 points against the Wolves, 8 points against the Thunder, 27 points against the Suns, and 25 points against the Nuggets. That’s not a good look for any team, let alone a team that was being considered a strong title contender not too long ago.
The LA side needs to fix their spacing issues pretty soon. It seems LeBron James is finally looking like his age on the court. So Anthony Davis has to step his game up to lead the Lakers to be more competitive.
