It was less than a week ago that we figured the Los Angeles Lakers were bound to turn this entire ship around.
With trade rumors surrounding pretty much the entire team’s roster and drama engulfing the organization, Los Angeles went into Boston and took out the mighty Celtics in stunning fashion.
Fast forward a couple games, and things have hit rock bottom for Luke Walton’s squad following an humiliating 117-113 loss to the lowly Hawks in Atlanta Tuesday night.
The game started out with Atlanta hitting a franchise-record 10 three-pointers in the first quarter. That was a combination of hot shooting from the Hawks and some really bad defense by the Lakers (watch here).
As the game progressed, fans at State Farm Arena took to trolling LeBron James with “Kobe’s better” chants. Ultimately, James finished the game with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists in another stellar individual performance.
Though, the backdrop for James was much more humiliating than what his stat sheet might have read.
This loss comes two days after the Lakers were blown out by Philadelphia, 143-120. It also comes a mere week after Los Angeles fell to the Victor Oladipo-less Pacers by 42 points.
So what exactly has gone wrong? Here’s a few factors leading the Lakers to irrelevance prior to the All-Star Break.
Luke Walton might have lost his team: Despite backing of the Lakers’ brass, Walton is clearly on the hot seat.
The discord is real: Sure Magic Johnson tried to smooth things over after the trade deadline, but what good did that do?
LeBron has his eye on the future: For King James, it’s not about the 2018-19 season.
The 2018-19 season is all but lost: There’s really no coming back from what we’ve seen the past week-plus.
In the end, this is all part of James’ long-term plan. No one envisioned it to be as ugly as we’ve seen recently. But it was never going to be pretty.
Let’s just hope for the sake of Lakers fans, drama doesn’t continue to surround this team as a lost season comes to a conclusion.