Sure, the Lakeshow is 11 games over .500 in a hellishly competitive Western Conference despite breakout star guard Austin Reaves missing significant time. Not only that, but superstar guard Luka Doncic is going ballistic, averaging dangerously close to a 34-point triple-double.
Yet, even with Reaves set to return any day now, I simply cannot muster up a single ounce of confidence in the Lakers as the All-Star break quickly approaches.
Call me a purist, or biased, for that matter, but I hate the way the Lakers play basketball.
Tune in to a live broadcast at any random moment, and you’ll more than likely be met with the sight of Luka Doncic dribbling the air out of the basketball.
Doncic currently is posting a career-high usage rate, a whopping 37.9%, good for seventh all-time behind names like MVP Russell Westbrook, 1986-87 Michael Jordan and 2018-19 James Harden, among others.
Alas, Doncic is still the same heliocentric demigod that he was in Dallas, only now, his supporting cast is much less equipped to support him.
Indeed, Luka holding the ball for so long on each possession might not be a point of concern if any of the other players on the court were even a little bit threatening while he is doing so.
Forward Rui Hachimura might be the most reliable role player on the roster, and although he’s shooting it well from three thus far (43.8%), he’s a serviceable option at best. Much of the finishing, rebounding, defense and toughness concerns surrounding center Deandre Ayton still remain, and on the whole, he’s been just above bad for most of this season.
Take a look at the bench unit, and you’ll be thoroughly unimpressed. Never before have I seen a group of what would be fringe rotation pieces on other playoff teams be so heavily relied upon.
Forward Jake LaRavia is a prime example of this. On the Grizzlies, LaRavia was a nice piece to have, hardly cracking 20 minutes a game in most seasons. On this Lakers team, LaRavia has become absolutely essential, jumping up to 27.5 minutes per game.
Those Luka-led playoff Mavericks teams, on the other hand, had a plethora of contributing role players off the bench, some of which could create off the dribble (Spencer Dinwiddie), some who could hit threes and attack closeouts (Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green), and most importantly, a rotation of high-level rollers who also had immense paint impact on defense (Dereck Lively, Dwight Powell, Christian Wood, Kristaps Porzingis).
Yet, even with all of this, the Mavericks could not get over the hump. More specifically, they could not overcome Luka’s abysmal defensive lapses in the playoffs, where teams could hunt him down possession after possession.
Even in this regular season, it is clear that Luka’s defensive effort has not undergone some sudden turnaround. His defensive rating of 117.8 is good for a shocking 435th in the league among players averaging more than 20 minutes played.
So, if a better Mavs team couldn’t outweigh Luka’s defensive incompetency, I find little hope in this team making a deep playoff run.
With that being established, let’s take a look at the Lakers’ other options going forward. A small hint: they don’t have many.
The likely best-case scenario would be forward LeBron James retiring this offseason, clearing over $50million off the books. If he decides to stick around, the Lakers will have to wait until he does decide to hang it up before making any meaningful changes in free agency.
Now let’s turn to the draft. Here, the outlook isn’t much better. The Lakers don’t own their own 2027 or 2029 first-round picks, and considering this year’s pick probably won’t be incredibly valuable, only two of your next five first-rounders possibly being something of value is not where you want to be as a franchise in need of a new direction.
Not only this, the Lakers don’t own a second-round pick for the next six years. Say what you want about how valuable second-rounders actually are, it’s better to have them than to not.
I admit I might be lower on the Lakers’ outlook than consensus, but alas, that’s my take. The Lakers will not be going anywhere this year, and that won’t be changing for a while.