Lakers

Anthony Davis is being trolled by the New Orleans Pelicans, who got the last laugh and a potential first-round draft pick from the Lakers.

"When we put this team together we had championship aspirations but injuries took that away from us," Davis told reporters Tuesday after the Lakers were eliminated from the postseason. The surging Pelicans have locked down a play-in spot thanks to the addition of CJ McCollum at the trade deadline. We know the position that we are in. Davis added: "We know what we are fighting for. In 2019, Anthony Davis wore a shirt inscribed with the Looney Toons sign off, "That's all folks," to the Pelicans' season finale after he publicly requested a trade. "After tonight’s results, our Play-In Match Up is set.

The Los Angeles Lakers problems were not all Russell Westbrook's fault, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Frank Vogel and the front office equally share blame.

Furthermore, among the 457 qualified lineups, the Lakers trio ranks 382nd in plus-minus at minus-34. The trio only played a mere 21 games, good for 393 minutes together as a three-man lineup. With that well in perspective, one title during extreme extenuating circumstances due to the pandemic does excuse nearly a decade of mediocrity.

Will anybody trade for Russell Westbrook? Here are some queries Los Angeles must answer this offseason.

That person also has to be somebody who can command the respect of James and Davis and hold them accountable, which Vogel was able to do during the team’s best moments. Those two contracts may be the best opportunity for the Lakers to find a mid-priced veteran, even if they have to attach a pick to do so. This has become a constant question for Davis, and the Lakers need to figure out a way to get through to him. If the Lakers are actually committed to rebuilding this roster the right way, a significant step toward success would be building this roster in the vision of Davis playing center. Finding vets who actually have something left in the tank should be a priority for the front office. The Westbrook trade is not the only reason the Lakers were a trainwreck this season, but it was basically the first domino for all the mistakes that followed. Moving THT could be the best avenue to bring in at least one of those players. Vogel was very much not the problem this season. Finding a taker for Westbrook has to be priority one for Los Angeles this offseason. While the Lakers’ season is not officially over, their disastrous 2022 run reached another milestone Tuesday night, when the team was eliminated from any postseason contention after a loss to the Suns. Los Angeles is now not even eligible for the play-in tournament, cementing what has been one of the most hilarious and frankly unsurprisingly awful seasons in recent NBA history. Still, simply creating a more balanced roster would go a long way in returning this team to respectability. The Lakers desperately need youth and shooting, (and defense would be a plus). If the Knicks could somehow be convinced to part ways with say, Alec Burks and Evan Fournier, the Lakers start to make a lot more sense on paper around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The ultimate goal for this team should be to find multiple 3-and-D types to put around their two stars, instead of one player who isn’t particularly good at either.

Despite being one of the two preseason betting favorites, Los Angeles won't even make the play-in tournament.

They didn’t win a title, didn’t reach the Finals, didn’t even qualify for the play-in game as the 10th-best team out of 15 in a shallow Western Conference. Statistically, among teams projected to contend for a title, the 2021-22 Lakers are the largest underachiever for as far back as we have data. “Our goal was to win a championship,” Davis said Tuesday. “Feel like we had the pieces, but injuries got in the way of that. The Lakers—like most teams this season—lost numerous players to injury, too, most notably James and Davis for a combined 60 games. The Lakers, with a mark of 52.5 this preseason, are one of 149 teams this century projected to win at least 50 games (or the equivalent of 50 out of 82 games in a shorter season). And out of that 149-team group, the Lakers will almost certainly fall short of their over/under total by the widest margin. 2 preseason betting favorite to win the championship, behind only the Nets. Never mind that the roster looked incredibly old or that Westbrook didn’t seem like a great fit on this roster or that the Lakers had just lost in the first round of the playoffs to a better Suns team. Injuries hampered the Lakers’ efforts to meet expectations, of course, as they did for many teams on that chart. It’s difficult to gauge each team’s preseason outlook in the earliest NBA decades, but we can at least start in 1984-85, which is the first season for which Basketball-Reference lists preseason title odds. But the Lakers fell, and they fell hard. Disappointed for the Buss family, who gave us all this opportunity, and we want to play our part in bringing success to Laker basketball and we fell short.” But are the 2021-22 Lakers, overall, the greatest disappointment in NBA history? A title is a title, and the Lakers’ 2020 banner will fly forever. In four seasons in his return to the Cavaliers, LeBron reached four more Finals, winning one.

The Los Angeles Lakers made no secret they were a team built to win a championship this season. Instead, they won't even make the playoffs.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel said he was “extremely disappointed” that the season will end short of the postseason. “That is the plan, but nothing is promised,” said Westbrook, who took a big chunk of criticism aimed at the team. “That was the difference in our season.” “It is nothing more than we just didn’t get it done,” Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony said. In a development that few would have seen coming six months ago, the Lakers were eliminated from the playoff race on Tuesday night after a 121-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns. Westbrook scored 28 points, Davis added 21 and James watched from the bench, nursing a sore ankle that kept him out for a second straight game. Davis has only been available for about half the season, missing time with knee and foot ailments.

'Fundamentally broken': Lakers a 'frog being boiled alive' as all-time humiliation finally over - US View.

Combine that with two of your better players hurt, and your third best player never quite fitting in with the team and he never got his footing – I don’t care if you had Frank Vogel or Phil Jackson, it wasn’t going to work this year for anybody trying to coach the Lakers. When injuries struck, that top-heavy approach came back to bite them – and the age of their supporting cast showed in a lack of defensive effort all campaign. Haywood said: “The Lakers roster is going to be totally different next year. He’s paying for the sins of this roster not being constructed the right way. “The champions before the Bucks were who? He’s set to earn $47m USD on a player-option year next season, the most of any LA player. It is a humiliating low, given the star-studded team was one of the strongest favourites to win the championship. That was the difference in our season.” We brought integrity to the process we just fell short through a disjointed season. “No, the Lakers needed to be embarrassed. “Guys stayed fighting right to the end. We have all put in the work.

The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the play-in tournament, which makes it almost a lock that the Pelicans will get their draft pick.

- #3-6.7% - #2-6.3% - #1-6%

Magic Johnson caused quite the stir earlier this week in an appearance ESPN Get Up! The LA legend, and former Lakers president of basketball operations, ...

Adding a third All-NBA caliber player surely would have done the Lakers some good this year. When DeRozan was in town in L.A., and he basically stuck it to the Lakers. The impression that I got from his camp was that DeRozan felt that the Lakers were in sort of disarray. The coulda-shoulda-woulda zealots came out in force.

A fan-made video appropriately summed up the Los Angeles Lakers' horrendous 2021-22 season.

There are a lot of lowlights from this dismal season in L.A. MORE: After missing playoffs again, has Lakers' investment in LeBron James and Anthony Davis been a bust? The answer: A fan-made video, a mocking "One Shining Moment" collection of not-so-great moments from the Lakers' 2021-22 season, from bad Russell Westbrook shots to Patrick Beverley roasting him and so much more.

The Los Angeles Lakers list LeBron James (left ankle sprain), Anthony Davis (right foot), and Russell Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) as questionable ...

"The blame internally appears to be focused on injuries, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James for pressuring the team to trade for Westbrook," Eric Pincus of ...

It seems that at least internally the blame is placed on the team’s superstars and injuries. “The blame internally appears to be focused on injuries, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James for pressuring the team to trade for Westbrook,” Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report wrote. James, whose voice is always heard and listened to when roster changes are made, played the main part in bringing Westbrook to L.A. instead of DeMar DeRozan was close to joining the team.

Lakers President/GM Rob Pelinka has considerable power within the organization. On paper, at least, he's the one who calls the shots and has the final say ...

And despite bringing back some of those guys in 2021, they have yet to recover and reclaim their place at the top of the West. Westbrook, after a failed stint in D.C., was brought on in hopes of adding some additional playmaking and scoring. That summer, the Lakers let go of many of the players that helped bring their success and replaced them with guys who failed to produce at the same level.

The 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers season is effectively over. A lot will be said about the decision-making from leadership over the next month or so with ...

Type of free agent: Non Bird Seeing how rostering 10 minimum players is not a recipe for success, any deal that liquidates Westbrook into several inexpensive role players is vital. It’s very possible they get outbid for Monk by a team offering him the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception projected at four years, $44.5 million. He might not be in a rush to sign it in the offseason since he can sign it during the regular season, so he might as well see how the roster shakes out first. The Lakers are in dire need of a reset and multiple role players to adequately deepen the roster and significant cap space could provide. As of now the Lakers project to have over $60 million in cap space in 2023 with just Anthony Davis, Talen Horton-Tucker, and their 2023 first-round pick under contract. Starting on August 4, LeBron James will be eligible for a two year, $97.1 million extension that would keep him under contract through the 2024-25 season. Or if the Utah Jazz were to blow things up, Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic could make some sense. The other option is sending Westbrook into Oklahoma City’s cap space. The Lakers may still have a chance as long as James and Davis are near the top of their powers, but the rest of the roster is filled with negative-to-neutral players at best. A lot will be said about the decision-making from leadership over the next month or so with plenty of finger-pointing to go around. For starters, both players will be three years removed from their 2019-20 championship season and have declined from being no-brainer Top 5 players since.

The Los Angeles Lakers missed out on a place in the NBA playoffs this year after suffering a seventh consecutive defeat on Tuesday.

"Our goal was to win a championship ... I feel like we had the pieces, but injuries got in the way of that. The 37-year-old was missing his second consecutive game after struggling with an ankle injury. "Disappointed for our fan base," he added.