The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of the most disappointing season in franchise history and the front office has not done enough this offseason to ensure that the 2022-23 season won’t be a repeat. Granted, at least this time around the expectations are lower, so it won’t be as disappointing.
There is still time for the Lakers to change the course of their future. Trading Russell Westbrook would go a long way in fixing some of the team’s core issues and creating a more cohesive roster that is actually capable of making a run for the NBA Finals.
However, the closer and closer we get to the 2022-23 season the less likely it appears that Westbrook will be traded. And if not, there are some massive issues with the team that will simply lead to more disappointment.
1. The Los Angeles Lakers have legitimate health concerns
Every single team in the NBA has to deal with the possibility of suffering injuries. Heck, the Milwaukee Bucks may have been back-to-back champions if Khris Middleton would have gotten healthy sooner so he could play against the Boston Celtics.
The problem with the Lakers is that their injury concerns are much larger than any other team in the league. Anthony Davis is injury-prone and bigs typically don’t get less injury prone as they hit their 30s (Davis turns 30 in March). LeBron James is going to be 38 in December and every year we see him become less and less durable.
In a perfect world, the Lakers would be good enough to give these guys rest in the regular season to ensure that they are good for the playoffs. The problem is that the team is not good enough to do that, forcing AD and LeBron to play just so the team can stay afloat and hopefully make the playoffs.
That is a massive problem. Those assuming that the Lakers will be completely healthy in 2022-23 are going to be in for a rude awakening, especially if changes are not made and the two stars have to play nearly every night.
2. The Los Angeles Lakers are bad defensively
The Los Angeles Lakers rode their defense to win the championship in 2020 and make the playoffs in 2021. Then the team decided to trade two of its most important defensive pieces for Russell Westbrook and allow its best perimeter defender to sign with the Chicago Bulls, instead signing Talen Horton-Tucker.
The Lakers have at least righted that wrong a bit by bringing in Patrick Beverley, who does make a big difference on the perimeter. However, he is still not as good as Alex Caruso.
Beverley alone is not enough to fix the defensive woes that the Lakers have. Having Beverley and Davis as a perimeter/paint tandem is a really good start but the pieces around them simply are not good enough and will be exposed in key situations.
Westbrook makes far too many defensive mistakes in key moments, LeBron James hasn’t played defense in five years (in the regular season) and neither of the centers the team has really add that much of a defensive impact.
There is some potential in the role players the Lakers brought in but even if everything goes perfectly, they are not going to have an above-average defensive role player. That is a problem.
Defense wins championships. It sounds corny but it is the truth. The top two teams in defensive rating last season made the NBA Finals with the top team, the Golden State Warriors, winning it all.
The Lakers do not have to be the best defensive team in the league but they can’t expect to make it far if they rank 21st in defensive rating, which is where they ranked last season.
3. The Los Angeles Lakers have awful floor spacing
The modern NBA requires the ability to space the floor and hit three-point shots and that is something that this Lakers roster is not equipped to do. Patrick Beverley has the best career three-point percentage on the entire roster. That should be extremely concerning.
It is more than just not having shooters in Los Angeles, either. It would obviously help if the team had guys who could hit off-ball threes at a high rate but that alone won’t fix it. Heck, the team had some decent off-ball options in Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony last year and that did not fix the spacing issue.
The problem is that the team has Russell Westbrook, who drives to the rim and does not offer any floor spacing, paired with Anthony Davis (who was the worst jump-shooter to start the season last year) and most times, a traditional center.
AD does not seem keen on playing the five full time and as a result, you get a driving point guard with no shot, a big who is extremely talented that isn’t being utilized properly and a traditional five that only clogs the paint even more.
That forces LeBron James to take the most threes on the entire team and last we checked, LeBron is not that great of a three-point shooter. He is fine, but this is restricting his ability to reach his ceiling as well.
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You simply cannot play this way in 2022.