Christian Wood's social media fiasco proves Lakers are in real trouble

The Los Angeles Lakers have not been nearly as good as they should be at this point in the season. Despite getting a mostly healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis to this point, the Lakers are 24-25 after falling to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

The losses are starting to pile up for Los Angeles and time is running out. It is one thing to struggle in December but these struggles are extending into February. With a crowded Western Conference, nothing is guaranteed and the Lakers need to start winning games.

It seems like the pressure is starting to set in on the coaching staff and the roster; the results are not pretty. The Lakers really do feel like they are falling apart at the seams and are risking this becoming a lost season if they cannot recoup and go on a run.

Nothing is more evident of this than the social media fiasco that surrounded Christian Wood and the team on Tuesday night. Just 20 minutes before tip-off, Wood tweeted a simple "Lol" six minutes after the Lakers announced a starting five that had Jaxson Hayes starting in place of Davis over Wood.

Wood has been a distraction to other teams in the past, so it was safe to assume that the post was pointed. However, the big man walked back the post after the game, explaining that he "meant to quote" something. Right. We all have heard that excuse before.

The post was pointed enough to prompt the media to ask Darvin Ham about it after the game. It is never a great sign when a team's head coach is publicly responding to social media posts from him players from right before tip-off; especially when that team is a contender.

The Lakers are obviously falling apart at the seams

Do you know who doesn't have things like this happening? The Boston Celtics, the Denver Nuggets, heck, even the Milwaukee Bucks have been smoother sailing and they fired their head coach after just half a season!

It may seem small, it may seem trivial, but moments like this matter. Things like this do not happen if the Lakers are winning basketball games. Is Wood telling the truth about his social media mishap? Maybe, we have no other way to prove otherwise. But he still didn't delete the post after being asked about it and still prompted a response from the head coach.

This is not the stuff that Lakers fans want to see. All Lakers fans want to see is winning basketball and despite having all of the ingredients for that recipe, the team simply cannot help but get in its own way.