The Lakers aren’t technically out of playoff contention yet, but after falling two games (and a tiebreaker) behind San Antonio in the Western Conference standings on Sunday, their odds of claiming a spot in the play-in tournament are increasingly slim — in fact, the Lakers could be officially eliminated as soon as Tuesday if they lose in Phoenix and the Spurs win in Denver.
Following Sunday’s loss, Anthony Davis sounded like someone who recognized that L.A.’s season is all but over, as he reflected on “what could have been” if the team had been healthier.
“I think the biggest thing that I think about personally is what we could have been, had we stayed healthy all year,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “What could we have been. … Guys feel like, ‘OK, what could we have been if I was healthy all year, [LeBron James] was healthy, [Kendrick] Nunn was healthy.’ You think about those things. We put this team together and it looked good on paper, but we haven’t had a chance to reach that potential with guys in and out of the lineup.”
Davis, who has only played in half of the Lakers’ 78 games so far this season, has been bothered throughout his career by injuries, but he bristled at the perception that he’s fragile, telling Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times that he hasn’t been sidelined due to “little ticky-tack injuries.”
“This is what I’ve learned about injuries,” Davis said. “Last year when I wasn’t playing, people were saying, ‘AD’s giving up on his team. It’s the playoffs. AD has to play. He’s got to play.’ And when I went out there to play, got hurt again, they said, ‘Who was his trainer? Who let him play?’
“So, what the [expletive] do you want me to do? When I play, it’s a problem. It’s a problem when I don’t play. At the end of the day, I’ve got to do what’s best for me and how my body feels. And we go from there. I’m not worried about who’s saying what or who thinks this about me because none of them have stepped on the floor and played. And the ones that did play, they should understand.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- A source familiar with James’ status told Dave McMenamin of ESPN that the star forward is “unlikely” to play on Tuesday vs. Phoenix. However, according to McMenamin, the source said there’s still a chance that could change if LeBron’s ankle improves more than expected by tomorrow night.
- Jovan Buha of The Athletic and his colleague John Hollinger both pushed back against the idea that injuries have been the primary cause of the Lakers’ disappointing season. Buha observed that even in games when Davis and James played, the team was just 11-11, while Hollinger said the team’s offseason plan needs to be better than simply running it back and hoping its two superstars stay healthy in 2022/23.
- Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up and First Take on Monday, former Lakers president Magic Johnson criticized the club for not acquiring DeMar DeRozan last offseason instead of Russell Westbrook (link via Jenna Lemoncelli of The New York Post). While that’s not an unreasonable take, given that DeRozan had interest in playing for his hometown team, Johnson’s assertion that the Lakers could’ve had DeRozan, Buddy Hield, Alex Caruso, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope instead of Westbrook is a fantasy that doesn’t pass muster. Unless DeRozan had been willing to sign for the taxpayer mid-level exception (which wasn’t viewed as a viable option at the time), L.A. would’ve become hard-capped by acquiring him and would have had no way of carrying all those contracts in addition to James’ and Davis’ maximum salaries. Acquiring both DeRozan and Hield without giving up Caldwell-Pope also likely wouldn’t have been possible due to salary-matching rules.
Instead of taking ownership over poor play and poor roster construction, let’s go with … “if we had of been healthy”. Right. The biggest problem on the team is that Austin Reaves and Malik Monk were the 3rd and 4th best players on a team when they should have been the 10th and 11th. How many guys underperformed? Essentially the entire roster minus LeBron and the two guys I just mentioned.
Don’t forget to blame Vogel and Pelinka too. Too many lineups and a horrible trade deadline. Avery Bradley could have been a lot stronger if utilized more often. It is hard to mesh when people don’t play together often, and most of that is on Vogel, not injuries.
The Lakers chose but pay the Luxury Tax so they suck. If they want to compete with GSW or Phx they better pay it.
Cannot build around AD so bye bye what if
Magic Johnson should not talk about basketball.
He was an incredible player but that’s where he should stay, in people’s memories.
not sure were you’re from but the system failed you
So you think the Lakers could have had all those players? Ressler/Atlanta thinking.
Of course Laker takes can vary widely and everyone feels a need to throw them,out there.
(psst Westbrook will return; Davis will work on basic ankle & leg movememts with less twisting.)
The team didn’t even look good on paper…
Was obvious before the season this team wasn’t going to be good. Even healthy they were a mid level team at best. With the injuries they were horrible. Plenty of other teams winning without their best players. Nuggets down 2 max, Memphis 20-2 without Ja. Suns still win without their best guys. It takes depth and connection on defense and lebron and ad just don’t lay it out there like they need too. Understandly for lebron, he’s old and putting up 30 but AD even healthy this year was an average star at 23 and 10. Dime a dozen in the current nba
23 & 10 is not “dime a dozen in the current NBA”. A lot of the other stuff you said was bad too
@cba
Exactly 3 guys averaged at least 20 pts and 10 rebounds this season. Jokic, Embiid and Giannas….. you know…. Nobodies…… except the likely top 3 MVP candidates this season who’ve won 3 MVPs already.
Plenty of 17 and 8 guys who play every night. AD is actually averaging 11.5 and 4.9 a night because he only plays have the time
Which 17 and 8 is much more comparable to 23-10 then the 3 players averaging 30 and 12 you some how lumped AD in together with
“AD is actually averaging 11.5 and 4.9 a night because he only plays have the time”
I get what you’re going for here, but that is not how that works, lol.
It’s lowkey how it works in the standings. I’d rather him play every night and give me 17-7 then give me 23-10 half the time
As a Laker fan, it serves them right for pandering to LeBrons every request to bring in “superstars” at the expense of the rest of the roster. This could’ve been a very good and competitive team had we kept all the talent they’ve drafted over the past 3-4 years.
Ingram Randelll Ball Russell Hart is a good team. Pope THT Caruso ….. As a Celtic fan bringing up in culture is good. Cleveland better stay far away from Lebron.
Anthony “Street Clothes” Davis has that nickname for a reason. Saying “if only I wasn’t injured” is like Ben Simmons saying “if only I could shoot well from 3.”
If they had acquired derozan and kept Caruso it would have been very different.
You know that someone is talking too much sense when you get everybody in this site commenting against it… so we can conclusively & as a matter of fact say that AD is making too much sense & is right about his comments!