The Los Angeles Lakers have hit a rough patch and one of the reasons for the losses piling up is their awful percentage from the free throw line.
As expected, the month of December hasn’t been kind to the Los Angeles Lakers. So far this month, the Lakers have won just three games. As their record gets worse and worse, one of the glaring issues has been their free throw shooting.
For most NBA players, one of the easiest things about the game is shooting free throws. For the Lakers, that is not the case. As a team, the Lakers have all struggled shooting free throws, and this has cost them dearly in close games.
The Lakers are currently the worst free throw shooting team in the league at 68.9 percent. The Oklahoma City Thunder are ahead of them at 71.3 percent, as the Lakers are the only team in the NBA under 70 percent.
While the struggles from the line have become a major problem, the Lakers are working hard to improve at the line. However, that hard work hasn’t translated to success on the court. Recently, Corey Hansford of LakersNation.com spoke with Larry Nance Jr. about the Lakers’ free throw woes. Here’s what Nance had to say.
"“I mean, we’re shooting hundreds of free throws in practice. Like, individually we’re shooting hundreds of free throws in practice,” Nance said after the Lakers’ latest loss.“It’s just one of those things that we’re working on, we’re drilling it, but it doesn’t get better overnight. There’s going to be some growing pains with it. The work is being put in and we’ll figure it out.”"
Even though the Lakers have struggled at the line, it is good to see them working hard to improve. As a young team, the free throw struggles shouldn’t be all that surprising. Most young players aren’t great free throw shooters out of college and that is certainly the case for some of the young players on the Lakers.
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With players like Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Nance, and Lonzo Ball all shooting under 70 percent, them improving would certainly help the teams overall percentage. As the season goes on, hopefully, the Lakers are able to improve at the free throw line. If they don’t frustrating losses will continue to build up.