The Lakers don’t need official confirmation from the league to know they’re going to be without Metta World Peace going forward. The only real mystery is for how long. But that news isn’t the only problem plaguing the Lakers heading into the postseason. Metta’s absence is just another brick in the wall of L.A.’s mounting troubles at the three position.
Matt Barnes, the man behind World Peace, won’t be making the trip to Sacramento for Thursday’s season finale. He’s dealing with an ankle injury sustained during Sunday’s dramatic win.
As if that weren’t enough the man that stepped in when World Peace was thrown out is also dealing with injury. According to the L.A. Times Devin Ebanks dropped a weight on his left hand during training on Tuesday. He’s not going to miss any time but will be wearing a splint.
The Metta conundrum alone is enough to derail any of the Lakers title aspirations. There has been some talk of the league shutting down the former Ron Artest for the rest of the year. But beyond World Peace the loss of Barnes is equally troubling considering his form lately.
As it stands the Lake Show doesn’t have much depth. So seeing both Barnes and Ebanks banged up only makes Mike Brown’s second string that much thinner.
For most of this season the small forward position hasn’t produced much at all. Then the light went on and both World Peace and Barnes elevated their play in recent weeks. The forthcoming suspension combined with the injury concerns could put the Lakers back to square one at the three which doesn’t bode for the soon to start playoffs.