The Lakers were officially eliminated from play-in contention on Tuesday night as they lost in Phoenix and the Spurs picked up a win in Denver to clinch at least the 10th seed. There are still three games left on Los Angeles’ regular season schedule, but Tuesday’s loss marked the unofficial end of a historically disappointing year, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
“Extremely disappointed,” head coach Frank Vogel said after the game. “Disappointed for our fan base. 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.”
Anthony Davis, who wondered earlier this week “what could have been” if the Lakers hadn’t had to deal with so many injuries, admitted on Tuesday that the club wasn’t exactly dominant even when he, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook were all healthy. But he still believes L.A. could have reached another level with more time to establish chemistry.
“I think even though we lost games where all of us were on the floor — me, Bron, Russ — I think we’re three great players, but we would have figured it out if we logged more minutes together,” said Davis, who pointed out the team had more starting lineups (39) than wins (31) this season. “But we weren’t able to do that, which makes it tough to be able to compete for a championship when your three best players haven’t logged enough minutes together.
“… I truly think that we could have done something special, if Bron and myself — and mainly me — were healthy for the entire season.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- With James and Davis unlikely to go anywhere, Westbrook looks like a candidate to be traded – or even released – this summer as the Lakers attempt to reshape their roster. But the former MVP will enter the offseason planning to remain in L.A. “I mean, that’s the plan. But nothing is promised,” Westbrook said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Yes, we want to be able to see what that looks like, what that entails over the course of an 82-game season. But we’re not sure if that’s guaranteed, either. So I just hope that we have a chance to be able to do something.”
- It’s unclear if Davis and James, who are both dealing with injuries, will play in the Lakers’ final three games now that the team has no chance at the play-in. “We’ll see,” Vogel said (Twitter link via Mark Medina of NBA.com). “We’ll meet with the front office, our players and the coaching staff, and see what’s best for our group.”
- While Vogel declined to speculate about his job security – or lack thereof – he seemed to acknowledge in a conversation with Bill Oram of The Athletic that he understands his probable fate. “It’s been a win-now job for each of the three years I’ve been here,” Vogel said. A Tuesday report stated that the Lakers will likely replace Vogel at season’s end.
- As Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets, the Lakers appear virtually locked into the No. 8 spot in the draft lottery, which is great news for the Pelicans, who will get L.A.’s first-round pick if it’s in the top 10. There would be a 99.6% chance of that happening if the Lakers remain in the No. 8 spot in the lottery standings. The Grizzlies, who would get the pick if it falls between 11-30, will likely end up receiving Cleveland’s 2022 second-rounder and New Orleans’ 2025 second-rounder from the Pelicans instead.
- Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes an in-depth look at the major decisions facing the Lakers this offseason.
fire rob pelinka…. it’s all his fault.
Fire GM LeBron James…. It’s all his fault.
who’s fault was the title?
2 years ago? Who cares.
We’re talking about THIS offseason and what to do to fix the problem of not making the playoffs now.
COVID.
And, it’s not a real title.
If there is any team i profusely dislike in pro sport on a near equal level as the Yankees it would be the Lakers. That being said, pray tell us why wouldn’t it be a “real” title? The Lakers played under the exact same conditions as any other team.
If anything it would be the cleanest title ever won. Everyone had the same amount of time off to get rested and healed and no one had home court.
So true. Westbrook over DeRozen. And he has a history of insisting on bad players/contracts – Thompson and Smith for example. The AAU mentality is the issue.
He was complicit but getting Westbrick was all LeBrons idea
Let’s talk about future
Lakers will be all in next 3 years
Davis and LeBron are still good
Westbrook was supposed to be traded 6 months ago
If Lakers are smart they trade James for best package they can get.
Or they try to go for it next year and after that fails, they stare into their bare cupboards wondering what comes next and how long it will take to build a playoff team let alone a contender. If James is still playing after next season it will be in a better situation. They will hope Davis can reestablish value to trade him perhaps, which is no certainty. Get some high picks to build our roster than attack free agency. The reign of King James is over in LA. But will ownership surrender the dream?
I was thinking the same thing. They will never do it but I would trade LeBron and AD this off-season. I would even take on short term bad money to get more in return. Hang on to Westbrook and see if you can move him at the deadline next year and then buy him out if you can’t. Write off 2023 and then enter the off-season with like $100+ in cap space and whatever assets you go in the trades.
With all the money over the cap there is 0 chance they will be a top 10 team next year. Even if both LeBron and AD is healthy they will struggle with that terrible bench they have. They must trade both of them if they want a future championship. Too many teams in the west are young enough to have a run to the playoffs in the next 3 years.
Kind of feel badly for Vogel, I guess. When times were good, he coached on auto-pilot. But boy, this group sure seemed to tune him out this year
HUGE L for Memphis as that late lotto pick would’ve been another really good young player for them to add to their squad. Pels should be takin a long hard look at guys like Johnny Davis/Ochai Agbaji to replace what they lost in Josh Hart. But if they don’t have confidence in Kira Lewis to come back strong from his ACL tear they could grab Jaden Hardy & infuse a bunch of electricity into their already solid backcourt
Clean House!! Sell the team!!
Here’s what Davis refuses to acknowledge. Every team that finished ahead of them has had to deal with injuries this season. PHO – Paul, Booker, Ayton, Payne, Kaminsky, Saric. GS – Thompson, Curry, Green, Wiseman, Iguodala. DAL – Porzingis (when he was with them), Doncic, Hardaway, Kleber. DEN – Murray, Porter. UTA – Ingles (before traded), Conley. MEM – Brooks, Morant … And Davis wants us to shed a tear for him, because he and LeBron were often on the maintenance plan and Nunn didn’t suit up? Give me a break. Man up.
Mitchell was out for a few games for Utah as well
Well, when your entire team has 3 stars and not much else, and 1 or 2 are out it’s actually a big deal.
Point being the team was setup for failure if injuries happened, and of course they did.
Love it. Lakers should clean house starting with pelinka and rich Paul
Who DIDN’T see a “chemistry” issue coming when they added Westbrook? Too many mouths to feed on that team for them to be good. I’m a little surprised about HOW bad they actually ended up, but chemistry issues, even at their best, would have kept them only somewhere in the middle of the pack
I don’t buy the chemistry argument. Westbrook couldn’t play much better when he was leading the team by himself.
I didn’t, so what?
I wonder if anyone acknowledges the roster is the problem behind closed doors?
I remember laughing at the Westbrook trade and wondering if the Lakers were trying to be terrible like the Karl Malone and Gary Payton year. How there was a single person who didn’t see this disaster coming is beyond me.
They made the finals that year so although it was a disappointment in Lakers standards it wasn’t terrible by any stretch of the imagination
Westbrook going to Clippers if he gets released. Nowhere he can be traded except maybe Houston.
Only way he goes to Houston is if the lakers include their 2027 first round pick which wouldn’t be wise because trading all their picks is what got them into this position (that plus letting Lebron be GM)
Ha ha bye
If we can sort out our role players we would be able to compete. Pelinka is the one that should be fired, this team needed some pieces with certain skills that were obviously overlooked. LeBron played some really great basketball this season and a healthy AD is a top 10 player in the NBA. AD needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and make some changes to his training regiment and perhaps as I’ve heard many people suggest, switch to some high tops and support those ankles better. Russ had some extreme highs and lows this season but he’s obviously a very skilled player. I truly believe that if he were to become their 6th man he would thrive off the bench. Melo and Dwight would be fine as the last two spots on the roster but in between we need more 3 and D types, we got outmuscled all season.
This is what happens when you surround yourself with Lebron and Rich Paul.
Lebron and Pelinka’s abilities as GM’s are already in question. Now I have to question AD’s ability as well. How can you consider Westbrook one of your 3 best players.
I suppose winning an MVP disqualifies you from ever been a top 3 player in a team in your book, right? Geeezzz, SMH!
You basically gotta see what LeBron wants to do. If he wants to stay in LAL one more year then you need to find a way to improve this roster.
If hes open to being traded, it’s a matter of where and what’s the best situation for him and the team. Hes only going to accept a clear path to another title. I’d say theres only a few destinations hed go and the team would be interested or able to do the trade BK, Phl, Denver, Dallas, GSW.
Nets can offer Ben Simmons, Curry/Mills and the Sixers 1sts.
Sixers can offer Tobias Harris, Springer, Bassey, and picks.
Nugs would be MPJ, picks, and a contract.
Packages would look like that for each team. 1 high priced guy, some picks, and a filler contract.
Why in the world would any of those teams give up all those players for LeBron?
Give up what? Every player is flawed in each scenario.
Why even let Lebron decide on the lakers future? Fire GM Lebron and make your own decision on what to do with the player Lebron James. The lakers bending over backwards for Lebron is what made the Westbrook trade happen. Don’t repeat your mistakes
Vogel gots to Gogel
These injury excuses are so sad. It’s just a bad team.
LeBron + AD = no playoffs? Anyone who mentions LeBron in the same class as Jordan immediately discredits themselves. LeBron can’t blame anyone but himself. He is basically the GM anywhere he goes as well.
The lakers are garbage with no hope for the next few years. After that they’ll be back to being a top team because they’re la and that’s just how it works
And that’s the bottom line because stone cold said so
What?
Read it slowly. Lakers are garbage…. They have no hope for a few years…. After that they will be good because they are la… look at the dodgers if you need an example.
How hard was that.. learn to read
What?