What Went Wrong with the Los Angeles Lakers?

This was supposed to be a retooled roster after last year’s disappointing exit in the first round of the playoffs. Instead, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to end the season in a more embarrassing fashion failing to secure a spot in the play-in tournament. There wasn’t much to be positive about this Lakers season with even bigger question marks about this roster than last season.

All of the struggles cannot be attributed to injuries even with LeBron James and Anthony Davis missing a combined sixty games. We can ponder about if Davis had stayed healthy if this would be a high-seed playoff team, but it’s hard to feel confident. This team looked like a JV team on the court this season. When the Lakers had James, Davis, and Russell Westbrook all on the court together this team still struggled, going 11-11 in those games. There was an overall lack of effort on defense and a discombobulated offense that never looked capable of winning a title. James said to keep that same energy with his team after we see their work and well it went much worse than we expected.

This team was awful after the All-Star Break losing 18 out of 24 games to end the season. That’s a complete failure that every single person in the Lakers organization should be held responsible for.

Accountability shouldn’t stop at Russell Westbrook

It’s too easy to put all of the blame on one single player. This team was embarrassingly bad and everyone deserves blame including ownership and GM Rob Pelinka. They felt confident in the roster they built when even with a fully healthy roster this team couldn’t beat a tanking Portland team.

The Lakers knew what type of player Westbrook is when they acquired him. He’s a ball-dominant player who can rebound and drive to the rim but is a less-than-average shooter to put it nicely. Adding a player like Westbrook never really made much sense, especially with James. Looking forward to next season, it’s going to be really, really tough for the Lakers to be able to move Westbrook. Not only did he have a disappointing season, but he’s also the highest-paid player on the team.

It looks like most of the blame is going to land on head coach Frank Vogel’s shoulders as the team has decided to let him go. One player who admitted to having an issue with Vogel’s coaching style was Russell Westbrook who did not hold back during his exit interview,

“I’m not sure what his issue was with me or I’m not sure why, but I can’t really give you an answer to why we really never connected.”

I think anyone who watched even just one Lakers game this season could sense the disconnect between Vogel and Westbrook. Getting rid of Vogel this soon after the season ended points to the team trying to find a way to keep Westbrook on the roster. Having the press learn about Vogel’s firing before telling him directly is pretty indicative of how the Lakers’ season went.

Lack of Supporting Cast

From the beginning of the season, the Lakers roster left many scratching their heads wondering if the oldest team in the league could make a run. The team let Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Alex Caruso all walk away in the offseason. They did however commit to Talen Horton-Tucker, signing him to a new three-year deal. A player they desperately tried to deal at the trade deadline, but could not find any buyers. Players like Wayne Ellington and Kent Bazemore didn’t see much playing time despite the numerous injuries and lack of roster depth at any position. Things were bleak when Stanley Johnson showed up off the street during a major Covid spike and instantly became the team’s second-best player behind James. After spending time out of the league, Johnson posted a career-high in field goal percentage.

The only player who “exceeded expectations” is Malik Monk. Similar to Johnson, Monk did not start the season with the Lakers, but by the season’s end became one of their most important players. He definitely earned a spot on next year’s roster. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, after a career season, Monk will be an unrestricted free agent and many other teams can offer him much more money than the Lakers due to their salary cap situation. Yet another self-imposed problem by the Lakers after committing an insane amount of money to veteran players who underperformed.

Defensive Woes

This team is just two years removed from a title in the bubble season. Coming off a first-round exit in last year’s playoffs, Los Angeles was hyped as an early favorite to once again capture the championship. Losing players like Caruso proved to be a much bigger blow than Los Angeles initially thought. However, Caruso was a restricted free agent meaning LA had a better chance than any other team to sign him and made the decision that they did not need him. The Lakers won the title because of their defense. In 2020, the Lakers had the number one ranked defense compared with this year’s team that has not played defense almost at all and ranks near the bottom of the league.

It’s not like Los Angeles was unaware they needed to correct their roster. They tried very hard to make big moves at the trade deadline but were unsuccessful at making any moves period. There was a deal to swap out Westbrook for John Wall, but that fell through and their fans had to watch other teams make blockbuster deals. The Lakers’ lack of assets is going to continue to be an issue as they try to figure out how to prevent another disappointing season.

Looking forward to next season, James said he will be hands-off in the roster process. That’s fairly hard to believe considering GM Rob Pelinka has stated the superstar has a bigger influence on personnel decisions than other players. Pelinka expressed that next year’s roster will be built around James. It’s unclear what that will look like in his twentieth season because this roster needs another complete overhaul.