Los Angeles Lakers interior defense is their biggest weakness

The Los Angeles Lakers small frontcourt has been a significant reason for the team’s struggle defending the paint. 

Flashback to last summer when Ivica Zubac joined the Los Angeles Lakers summer league, and Laker fans thought they had found their center of the future. Zubac was raw skill-wise, but he was big and showed flashes of being a competent scorer in the post.

Well, things have not worked out that way so far, with Zubac failing to progress enough to make a consistent impact in NBA games.

The Lakers brought in JaVale McGee to fill the void in the paint, and while he has been phenomenal, there is still enough to be desired on how adequately the basket has been protected.

Now, the onus does not solely land on Laker bigs. The guards could do a better job of keeping their opponents out of the paint by stopping penetration and off-ball cuts. Right now, the Lakers are ranked 28th, giving up 58 points per game near the hoop.

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LeBron James is a monster athlete, but he could not do much when LaMarcus Aldridge was backing him down in the post, who is just bigger. McGee has been amazing contesting and deterring shots as a help defender but struggles to defend players in the post.

The Lakers opponents score 69 percent of their points inside the 3-point arc, which puts the Lakers dead last in the NBA for that category. With the Lakers also ranking 25th in 2-point percentage against at 54.6 percent, teams are having no problem scoring on the Lakers inside the arc.

The Lakers are 20th in offensive rebounds surrendered, giving up 11.3 per game. With the Lakers having five guards averaging more than four rebounds per game now (Lonzo Ball 5.2, Josh Hart 4.7, Lance Stephenson 5.0, and Rajon Rondo 5.0), everyone is doing their part crashing the boards.

While the Lakers are getting a steal 7.4 percent of the time on defense, good for fifth in the league, they need to be more disciplined off the ball to help their bigs. Failing to communicate is a common theme, which leads to backdoor cuts and wide open looks for opposing offenses.

Unless the Lakers make a midseason trade, chances are they are going to get beat up inside now and then from a team with dominant post players. If the perimeter can work out the kinks to keep their men out of the paint, that will help take pressure off their thin frontcourt.