The Los Angeles Lakers are in the middle of one of the ugliest starts in the history of the NBA. The Lakers entered the season with a renewed hope that they could reemerge as title contenders after a busy offseason. Those hopes have all but been dashed through just 12 games, as the Lakers 2-10 record is tied for the worst in the league with the Houston Rockets.

At this point, there isn't much more that can be said about the Lakers disappointments. They have stars in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and to an extent, Russell Westbrook, which should be enough to lead to wins. But it hasn't played out like that so far, and the result has been a surprisingly bad start to the regular season.

It's still very early in the season, but it feels like the Lakers season is already teetering on the brink of completely falling apart. And while there are a handful of players who have contributed to this mess, it's clear there are three people within Los Angeles' organization that have played a bigger role in this than others. Let's take a look at who those three people are and see why they have had such a negative impact on the Lakers.

3. Patrick Beverley

The Lakers had high hopes for their backcourt after they picked up Patrick Beverley in a trade with the Utah Jazz. Pairing him up with Westbrook, another strong defender, seemed great in concept, and would help provide the Lakers with a base for which they can build off of throughout the season.

It's safe to say that hasn't exactly happened so far. While Westbrook has spent most of the season coming off the bench, Beverley has started in each of the ten games he's played in, and has been awful. His per game averages over 28.4 minutes per game make him unplayable at this point (4.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 28.6 FG%).

Beverley wasn't brought in to lead the offense, but again, he's playing over 28 minutes a night when he plays. He's been useless on offense, and his defensive impact has not been what the Lakers were looking for. Those numbers wouldn't even be good for a guy coming in off the back of the bench, but Beverley is doing that in a starting capacity. L.A. should explore other starting options in their backcourt moving forward.

2. LeBron James

LeBron James has been the Lakers best player so far this season, but there's no denying that he's taken a massive step back to start the season. Last season, James proved he was still at his most dominant, and kept the Lakers afloat despite the fact that they faced similar struggles to the ones they are facing this season.

The Lakers were counting on him to do something similar this season, and while those expectations were obviously very high to begin with, he hasn't come close to delivering on them. James' numbers through his first ten games played (24.9 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 6.9 APG, 45.7 FG%, 23.9 3P%) are not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but James has to do more if the Lakers want to win.

James hasn't been able to lead the Lakers like he did last season, and while that's not solely his fault, that's a big reason they are 2-10 right now. There's no denying the fact that James isn't getting a ton of help right now, but until he begins to play like he did last season, Los Angeles will continue to be one of the worst teams in the league.

1. Rob Pelinka

Easily the person most to blame for this ugly start to the season is general manager Rob Pelinka. Pelinka's terrible roster construction has put the Lakers in their current predicament, and there's seemingly no way to escape it. With the front office as a whole divided on what to do with their roster, and increasing pressure from James to build a winner around him, Pelinka has put himself in a spot where he cannot win.

The Lakers have one of the worst contracts in Westbrook's on their books, just two tradeable first-round draft picks that they don't want to part with, and a core behind James and Davis that cannot contribute on a nightly basis. Pelinka revamped the bench this offseason in hopes that would propel the Lakers back up the Western Conference standings, but aside from Lonnie Walker IV, none of his moves have come close to working out.

Pelinka's inability to build a winner around James and Davis has killed this team. They managed to win a title back in 2020, but pretty much everything Pelinka has done since has been the wrong move. The Lakers roster is horrible, but there's really no way to make it better right now. And ultimately, that falls on Pelinka's shoulders.