Los Angeles Lakers: How good the Lakers could have been with Chris Paul
2012-13 Season:
2012-2013 was a pivotal year in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers. Desperate to reclaim the success they’d had over the previous decade, the Lakers made a plethora of ill-fated trades that were the catalyst for seven straight losing seasons.
The one that was a direct consequence of what I’m now going to refer to as “veto-gate”, was a desperation move for 38-year-old Steve Nash.
Los Angeles Lakers: Steve Nash
Phoenix: A 2013 1st round draft pick (Nemanja Nedović was later selected), a 2013 2nd round draft pick (Alex Oriakhi was later selected), a 2014 2nd round draft pick (Johnny O’Bryant was later selected) and a 2018 1st round draft pick (Mikal Bridges was later selected).
The Suns organization has been amongst the worst run organizations in basketball for years, so they didn’t capitalize on all the draft capital that the Lakers provided them aside from the Mikal Bridges pick.
The other big trade was one that was set to shake the foundation of the NBA landscape, just not in the way that was expected. As per Basketball Reference:
"As part of a 4-team trade, the Los Angeles Lakers traded Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers; the Los Angeles Lakers traded Christian Eyenga, Josh McRoberts and a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Wesley Iwundu was later selected) to the Orlando Magic; the Denver Nuggets traded Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, a 2013 2nd round draft pick (Romero Osby was later selected) and a 2014 1st round draft pick (Dario Šarić was later selected) to the Orlando Magic; the Orlando Magic traded Earl Clark, Chris Duhon and Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers; the Orlando Magic traded Jason Richardson to the Philadelphia 76ers; the Philadelphia 76ers traded Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets; and the Philadelphia 76ers traded Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vučević and a 2018 1st round draft pick (Landry Shamet was later selected) to the Orlando Magic. (1st Round pick from PHI to ORL was eventually traded back to PHI. 1st-Rd pick from LAL to ORL turns into 2017 & 2018 2nd-Rd picks if Lakers 1st-Rd pick traded to PHO/PHI does not convey by 2017)"
Feeling overwhelmed just reading that? Me too. I had to bold any players, picks, and teams involved just to attempt to keep up with what happened. If there’s one key takeaway to make from that trade in 2020, it’s that you would have been laughed out of the room if you’d tried to argue that in a trade that contained both Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, that Nikola Vucevic would be the best player from that point onwards.
Bynum had been elite the season prior and Howard was coming off an All-NBA First Team appearance. He also happened to be only one season removed from winning three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards.
The franchise’s front office was getting desperate to return to championship contention after the failure of the previous season, appearing perfectly content with ridding themselves of any draft assets in order to orchestrate a swift return to NBA relevancy.
Looking back at old articles, expectations were sky-high for the 2012-13 Lakers. As per Hoops Habit:
"It was the perfect team, really. The starting lineup boasted a combined 33 All-Star appearances between them, and had the league’s highest payroll at just over $100 million. They were the media’s pick to win it all – the New York Times called them “one of the most talented lineups in NBA history” and ESPN declared that they “were not only expected to win the title but to do so in record-breaking fashion.”"
The reality was unfortunately very, very different. Mike Brown got fired after just five games and a 1-4 start to the season. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of Mike Brown as a coach and believe that LeBron James has made him look far better than he is in reality. Yet even I can acknowledge that the decision appeared hasty, reactionary, and like a panic move.
The coach they replaced him with, Mike D’Antoni, was and still is famous in basketball circles for high-octane offense, pushing the pace and lots of three-point shooting. Although he’s admittedly a huge proponent of a pick-and-roll heavy offensive scheme, something that stood to benefit Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in particular, the type of offense he tried to install did not suit the pieces that he had.
The league’s oldest roster would’ve been better suited to a more deliberate, patient offense, like the Triangle. Instead, watching the offense attempt to gel that season felt like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Even the pick-and-roll didn’t work as effectively as expected, something that in the interest of fairness, I attribute to Howard’s back injury he was battling all year.
The team still managed to finish with the #9 ranked offense in the NBA that year, but that was more due to the sheer offensive talent on the roster rather than via a coherent offensive system.
To make matters worse, the Lakers got crushed by injuries throughout the season, destroying any chance that they had to build chemistry.
One interesting piece of trivia that I found while taking a trip down memory lane, is that the expected starting lineup only started 7 games together all year, going a horrible 0-7 in those games. Worst of all, Dwight Howard was said to have been a malcontent all year, even being reported to have had chemistry issues with Steve Nash.
If you’re new to being a Lakers fan, after reading the above you can probably guess how the season unfolded. They started the season 15-16, while across the hall, Chris Paul had led the Clippers to a 23-8 start.
Although the purple and gold steadied the ship as the season went on, the damage had already been done, finishing the regular season with a 45-37 record. Believe it or not, the playoffs were even more disappointing than the regular season was, as they were swept in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs.
So, would the addition of Chris Paul have led the 2012-13 Lakers past the Spurs in the playoffs? Honestly, probably not, unless in this alternate reality, Dwight Howard’s back was magically healthy. I firmly believe that San Antonio was the best team in the NBA that year, being incredibly unlucky to lose to the Heat in the finals.
However, if I were a betting man, I’d be confident in saying that if you substituted Paul into the team for Nash, the Lakers would’ve almost certainly avoided the Spurs in the first round. I could’ve had them ranked as high as the #3 seed, behind the aforementioned Spurs and the #1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The #6 seed at the time was the Golden State Warriors, who while incredibly exciting to watch, hadn’t yet become one of the great NBA dynasties that they were destined to be.