LeBron James and the new look Lakers have stumbled coming out of the gates, and the schedule isn’t going to be doing them any favors the rest of the way.
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This offseason, the Lakers went all in on getting a third star, and in the end, they traded for Russell Westbrook in hopes of forming the NBA’s newest big-three. However, the experiment hasn’t worked exactly as planned so far.
The Lakers are currently 17-19 sitting at 7th place in the West, and they haven’t looked at all like a finals contender or even a serious playoff contender for that matter.
The Westbrook hype has largely died down, and there are already talks of trading him not even midway through the year. Something really does need to change in LA, and it needs to change fast.
LeBron James over the last 6 games:
31 PTS, 14 REB, 6 AST, 52% FG
34 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST, 68% FG
36 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST, 57% FG
39 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST, 56% FG
32 PTS, 11 REB, 11 AST, 58% FG
37 PTS, 13 REB, 7 AST, 52% FGLakers are 1-5. pic.twitter.com/RzMbXxkoJJ
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 30, 2021
LeBron James and the Lakers have toughest remaining schedule in the NBA
One thing that might be worrying for LA fans is that the Lakers haven’t had to face a very difficult slate of opponents so far. They’ve played teams like the Houston Rockets thrice, the Thunder thrice, and the Timberwolves twice while they still have three games remaining against the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns (the #1 and #2 seeds in the West right now) and two games remaining against the Utah Jazz (the #3 seed right now). They also have games against the Nets and Bucks left too.
Is it possible that a tough stretch against these teams knock the Lakers out of playoff contention altogether? It’s definitely possible, but that might be underestimating LeBron a little too much.
The Lakers (.472 winning percentage) are just above the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves (both at .471) at the moment who hold the 8th and 9th seed. Below them are the San Antonio Spurs at .424. These four teams make up the play-in tournament right now.
For the Lakers to drop out of the playoffs entirely they’d have to somehow fall behind all those teams and below the current 11th seed, the Sacramento Kings (.417). While it’s definitely possible, that would take an all-time collapse from a LeBron James led team, and with the firepower this team possesses that seems hard to fathom.
It’s also important to note that Anthony Davis has been injured for the Lakers terrible run right now, and his return will definitely bolster the middling team right now. LeBron is having to burden the load of the offense all on his own right now, and while he’s been incredible, he definitely needs more support.
