– Stay healthy
While injuries are part of the game, the injury bug has certainly been something that has hit the Lakers hard this season. Almost every one of their key players has missed time with some sort of injury, and James missing an extended amount of time was not something that the franchise was able to handle.
In the extremely tough Western Conference, the Lakers were unable to play .500 basketball without James, and that resulted in them falling in the standings. Due to all of the injuries, it is no surprise to see that the chemistry between some players has been an issue.
It feels like James and Brandon Ingram have barely played together this season and that isn’t good with it being February. When most teams are fully gelled, the Lakers still look like they have some chemistry issues on the court.
With just 25 games left in the season, the Lakers can not afford another major injury. Since Lonzo Ball is still out, the Lakers will be relying heavily on Rondo, Ingram, and James as the primary ball-handlers. Hopefully, Ball is able to come back from the ankle injury and be ready to go, as he will be playing in very important games right away. If the Lakers can get healthy and stay healthy, they should be able to get back to playing the type of basketball we saw at the end of 2018.