"Without LeBron & AD, the Lakers badly needed Westbrook" - Skip Bayless speculates that the LA Lakers will miss out on the Play-In tournament
As the LA Lakers added another loss to their long list of disappointing performances this season, Skip Bayless of Fox Sports 1's Undisputed voiced his criticism of the Lakers' display without LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Considering the LA Lakers' losing record this season and their tough upcoming schedule, Bayless made his thoughts on the Lakers' performance without their superstar-duo quite evident. He tweeted saying:
"Without LeBron & AD, the Lakers badly needed Westbrook, Melo and Dwight to carry them to a win at San Antonio (12th in the West) that was sitting several key rotation players. NOPE. The schedule soon gets brutal. Now it looks like the Lakers will even miss the PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT."
Without LeBron & AD, the Lakers badly needed Westbrook, Melo and Dwight to carry them to a win at San Antonio (12th in the West) that was sitting several key rotation players. NOPE. The schedule soon gets brutal. Now it looks like the Lakers will even miss the PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT.
The Purple and Gold chose to rest LeBron James, who was experiencing knee soreness ahead of Monday's loss against the San Antonio Spurs. Although LeBron has been playing through this pain and has been a consistent performer, the Lakers needed their superstar to be healthy come play-in and playoff time.
While the decision is fair, with a 28-36 record, the Purple and Gold found themselves only one game ahead of the tenth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans. In this regard, Skip Bayless makes a valid point as he speculates that the Lakers could potentially fall out of play-in contention.
Can the LA Lakers turn their season around?
The LA Lakers have had one of the most disappointing seasons in recent NBA history. With some of the most well-known players joining forces for the season, the Purple and Gold were expected to be favorites to win it all.
However, the season saw the side battling through injuries while the Lakers also struggled to address issues in roster construction itself. The resulting frustration hasn't yielded any positive results as they practically imploded over the course of the season.
Falling to the ninth seed in the West, the Purple and Gold find themselves on the brink of falling down another spot and having to battle for a position in the play-in tournaments.
In this regard, the LA Lakers needed players such as Russell Westbrook to step up and lead the side in the absence of James and Anthony Davis.
While James' injury only keeps him out on a day-to-day basis, Davis is a more serious case. After suffering an ankle injury in mid-February, he is due for a re-evaluation this month.
Vogel said the Lakers are still expecting Anthony Davis to return this season, but can’t forecast anything ahead of his re-evaluation that is set to be about four weeks after the injury occurred (Feb. 16 vs. Utah).
With no set timeline for Davis' return, the LA Lakers find themselves in a horrible position going into the remaining 18 games. After losing five of their last six games following Davis's injury, they have failed to address their problems thus far.
With 11 of their next 18 games being against teams over .500, the Lakers will definitely have their work cut out for them. While it isn't wise to count LeBron out under any circumstances - given the limitations of the roster and the talent around him - they may realistically find themselves as the tenth seed.