3. The Los Angeles Lakers have more competition than they did at the start of the season
Rob Pelinka built the Los Angeles Lakers with a different landscape at the start of the season. The league has gotten better and the Los Angeles Lakers need to get better as well.
The biggest example is the Brooklyn Nets, who added James Harden and now are the only team with more star power than the Lakers. Say what you will about there only being one ball, but star power often wins championships.
There is also a lot of natural improvements that were not expected before the season. Nobody could have expected the Utah Jazz to be this good and be a legitimate threat to the Lakers in the Western Conference.
The Los Angeles Clippers, albeit on a losing streak, are also playing fairly good basketball and are looking like the team the league thought they would be last year. The Philadelphia 76ers are also a threat.
Joel Embiid is the MVP favorite and they present a serious mismatch to the Lakers if they were to meet in the NBA Finals. If Gasol gets hurt or gets in early foul trouble then I have no idea what the team would be able to do to stop Embiid.
Embiid typically takes it to Anthony Davis and plays very well against him, so that is not a for sure option.
Simply put: if the Los Angeles Lakers are not getting better then they are comparatively getting worse.