The Los Angeles Lakers‘ loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night should have been a wake-up call. Not only did the loss put the Lakers at 8-7 on the season, but the difference between the Lakers and Bulls was significant.
Sure, LeBron James didn’t play, but the Bulls were a team that played in sync and knew exactly who they were. Everyone thrived in their role and the result was not even close. Compare that to the Lakers and it is bleak.
There definitely are reasons for the Lakers’ early-season struggles and they can right those wrongs. However, the fact still remains that Laker fans should be extremely worried about this team.
Why fans should be extremely worried about the Los Angeles Lakers:
1. This was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule
Having a brand-new roster struggle as it figures itself out is not an uncommon thing in the NBA and that is what the Lakers are going through. However, the Lakers should be far better than 8-7 thus far this season as the opening act of the season was the easiest part of the entire.
The Lakers had a legitimate opportunity to run away with a good early-season record that put them in a good position for the rest of the year. More importantly, it would have created some confidence and given the Lakers some wiggle room to drop games in the future.
Instead, the Lakers have lost games that they should never lose, including two to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Eight of the Lakers’ 15 games thus far are against teams under .500 and there are other near-.500 teams (such as Memphis, Charlotte and Cleveland) who do not poise the biggest challenge. The Lakers currently have the fifth-easiest strength of schedule in the league, per Basketball-Reference.
They should at the very least have 10 wins. If the Lakers are struggling in these games then just imagine when things get tougher.