The downward spiral continued for the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. In the first half of a back-to-back against two premier teams, the Lakers came up woefully short against the Milwaukee Bucks. Their disappointing 126-106 thumping at the hands of Giannis Antetokounmpo and company continued to expose the biggest issue that Los Angeles will face for the remainder of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Friday night will wrap up this four-game road trip for the Lakers and allow them to finally return to the comforts of Crypto.com Arena for five straight games at home. Facing the Denver Nuggets, a team that has notably terrorized Los Angeles, in the midst of a slumping stretch will either be an opportunity to fully hit rock bottom or the catalyst for recapturing momentum for the Lakers.
Lakers' road trip has confirmed team's biggest issue is very real
When taking a moment to ponder what the biggest obstacle facing the Lakers in 2024-25 is, what is the conclusion one would come to? Is it their frontcourt woes? Is it the mediocre 3-point shooting of a team shifting to a much more perimeter-oriented offensive game? Quite frankly, it is all much simpler than that.
Those things did not get in the Lakers' way when they were riding an eight-game winning streak through some healthy competition. So what is the issue?
After the Bucks game, Austin Reaves said, "JJ [Redick] said when he walked in, he was like, 'Everything was good a week ago.' We was playing good basketball."
Reaves continued his answer to the media and it was there that the Lakers guard properly identified the core issue here.
Reaves continued, "We've had some bad luck with injuries ... and people that are even playing still banked up a little bit. Nobody feels sorry for us, everybody's gonna wanna beat us by 30. ... We just gotta figure it out. Like I said, we don't really have room for error. We got to go play really good basketball games."
The injury list has obviously been filling up quickly for the Lakers. Trying to overcome an injury to LeBron James is tough enough as it is. Also missing key contributors like Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura makes it an even tougher mountain to climb.
The issue of not being able to win short-handed was highlighted a month ago with a brutal loss to the Utah Jazz. The key concern continues to rear its ugly head.
Reaves communicated a similar notion to one James did back when the team was still built around the aging superstar and Anthony Davis, the Lakers have to play close to perfect to win. The roster, before and after the Doncic trade, simply lacks the depth to allow for much less than that.
For the Lakers, missing important players throughout this road trip has not allowed them to play up to the caliber when the team was relatively healthy.
The good news would be the fact that the returns of James, Hachimura, and Hayes do not appear to be too far off. Jovan Buha reported the other day that the trio had been sent back to Los Angeles for rest and recovery. That would hopefully imply the impending return of those players at some near point of the Lakers' upcoming home stretch.
The bad news is the Nuggets could make things worse on Friday for the Lakers before they get better. That would be extra disappointing for Los Angeles considering the head-to-head race both teams find themselves in for the second seed in the Western Conference.
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