Magic and the Lost Boys

By Peyton Schultze

What has happened to the Lakers once-promising season?

It’s late-February and almost March. The NBA season is coming down to the wire, and teams like the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks seem like legitimate contenders for an NBA title. Meanwhile, perhaps the game’s best player in LeBron James is struggling in his new home of Los Angeles and finds himself of not only missing the chance of playing for a 9th straight NBA Finals, but of actually missing the Western Conference playoffs entirely with the Lakers sitting as the 11th seed in the West. Wait, what? The stunning thought of a James-led team missing the playoffs completely has players, coaches and mostly fans exasperated all around the league with major doubts about the direction of the Laker organization. So how did the Purple and Gold lose their early-season magic and end up with so much turmoil and chaos surrounding them?

There are plenty of reasons for why the Lakers are in the position that they currently are. Major injuries to LeBron James and Lonzo Ball have held the team back from reaching their top potential and playing as one single and cohesive unit. The roster constructed from the past offseason has not lived up to its lofty expectations. Luke Walton has compiled some curious lineups that have not played well together. Their trade deadline moves have not provided much of a boost at all. Yet as most people seem to know and understand, the Lakers’ inability to trade for Anthony Davis and trade several of their young players has changed the course of their season, while rocking the organization and everyone inside of it in the process.

Many will be quick to blame Magic Johnson or Rob Pelinka for this. And maybe they should take a lot of the heat. After all, their experimental offseason signings around James have not panned out, and the team was not able to land Davis at this year’s deadline. In addition, Luke Walton seems to be on his last leg as head coach of the Lakers. However, Walton is receiving a lot of unwarranted criticism, despite several coaching errors that have caused the Lakers to perform poorly in late-game situations. Sure Walton is no Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr, but he perhaps has the toughest task in the league as a young coach trying to manage the circus that comes with the arrival of James and the development of young players such as Ball and Brandon Ingram.

Luke Walton faces the nearly-impossible task as a young head coach of managing one of the greatest players ever and developing several young Lakers at the same time.

So if you are a Laker fan, blame Walton, Pelinka, and Johnson all you want. Yet the truth of the matter is this: who could the Lakers possibly find as a better coach at this point in the season? Is it really Pelinka’s fault that the Pelicans were refusing to deal with the Lakers whatsoever despite several Godfather offers from the Lakers? Why are people starting to doubt Magic so quickly, especially after just landing the game's best player? This Lakers’ roster is not perfect by any means, but they certainly should a playoff team on-paper over young and inexperienced teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings.

Which brings all eyes directly onto one man: LeBron James. Since becoming a Laker over summer, James has had to deal with immense pressure to brings the Lakers back to their former glory and help bring a championship back to Los Angeles. In addition, he is also unfairly tasked with having to almost “win over” Laker fans who adored the great Kobe Bryant for so many years, just several years after Kobe’s retirement. Despite all this, James is still putting up unreal numbers and was helping the Lakers play great basketball until injuring his groin on Christmas Day against the Warriors.

Yet since then, the Lakers have been a mess. Given, it would have been hard for the Lakers to reel off a bunch of wins without James and with a bunch of young players leading the team, but the Lakers at least somewhat held their ground in James’ absence. Yet since James has returned, the Lakers are an abysmal 3-6 over their past 9 games, with some horrendous losses to bottom-feeders like the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. All this in addition to the maddening noise about Anthony Davis being possibly sent to the Lakers in exchange for most of the young Laker players has rattled the team and put them in a terrible spot at possibly making a postseason run.

The Lakers are currently the 11th seed in the West and in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

On the court, the Lakers deeply miss Lonzo Ball, possibly their best defender who is solid in their full court offense. Yet Ball is assumed to be out several more weeks with an injured ankle, and the Lakers are forced to turn elsewhere for his production. Yet even with their string of recent losses, Kyle Kuzma and especially Brandon Ingram (playing some of the best ball of his young career) have been improved and have helped the Lakers’ offensive production. With that being said, the Lakers “young” players really have not been as bad as everyone seems to be saying lately. Which makes James’ recent comments all the more puzzling:

It’s certainly accurate that injuries have hurt the Lakers’ promising season and that the Lakers have been accustomed to losing over the past several years. But even with that being said, does James need to make these comments? The young Laker players have had a few weeks of basketball purgatory with examples such as being involved in trade rumors that probably made them uncomfortable about how they fit in with the team and falling out of the playoff picture. So in James’ case, are his comments effective whatsoever or are they just causing more of a rift?

Maybe the Lakers need to look at the New England Patriots for a model of how to overcome chaos and noise about the organization. Over the years, New England has had their share of controversies and scandals involving coaches and players that could have destroyed the franchise’s player relationships. Yet in the end, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the two real leaders of the team, have been able to right the ship and get the team to focus on one thing: winning. For James and the Lakers, they seem focused on everything but winning right now. It is not a problem at all that James came to Los Angeles partially to be a part of the film industry, but does he really need to publicize that he was with rapper 2 Chainz on a day where he had to miss a game against the Warriors due to “load management”? As the leader and face as one of the most important sports franchises, it is on LeBron to know how to have a positive influence on young players around him that probably looked up to him just a few years ago while in high school or college. This begins and ends with him leading by example, whether that is showing up ready to play on a nightly basis with engaged defense or by responding to questions in the media about how the team is only focused on winning and not on any of the outside noise around him.

The Lakers need Lonzo Ball, a key defensive cog, to return soon in hopes of trying to make a run at the Western Conference playoffs.

LeBron certainly has the capability and has the proven track record to show that he can be a true leader and lead this Laker team into the playoffs. Despite their faults in the roster, the Lakers still have the best player in the world and a group of young and talented playmakers that are itching to get a shot at the postseason. But for a return to the playoffs for the Lakers, they need their team leader to help lead a group of inexperienced players to play above what they thought they could be. Whether they make a run or not, the Lakers know that they are probably not winning a NBA championship this season, especially without another superstar and role players that can shoot 3s on a consistent basis.

However, this is perhaps the Lakers’ largest and most lingering problem this year: it was never about winning a championship this season.

That is a hard thing to swallow for a franchise that is so accustomed to winning, but this is what happens after poor management, curious roster control and a lack of direction following the retirement of Kobe Bryant. The rest of the Laker season, and what the whole season should have been about, is about building confidence towards next year and the rest of the LeBron-era. It’s about grooming their players and re-energizing a suddenly-confused fanbase to convince Laker fans that “Showtime” will soon be back. It’s about showing the young roster’s potential as an attractive landing spot for upcoming free agents. It’s not about James falling short of a championship this year and not becoming a Laker great yet. It is way too early in James’ tenure with the Purple and Gold to have a verdict on his time in Los Angeles. But what it is not too early for is some kind of hope in the midst of the organization’s sudden darkness. Whether that comes from the play of the young players or a strong push that vaults them into the playoffs remains to be seen, but there is one thing that is clear: the Lakers’ final 22 remaining games will have major implications and will likely decide the future of the organization in the LeBron-era.