Subscribe
Follow Us
The Los Angeles Lakers' 2024-25 season has taken a drastic turn for the worse — and quickly. All the good vibes brought forth by their strong start to the season are completely gone now, especially after they took inarguably their worst loss of the season on Wednesday night when they came into South Beach and got thrashed by the Miami Heat, 134-93.
The Lakers cannot tell themselves that this is a one-off, as they are coming off yet another embarrassing defeat on Monday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves destroyed them by 29 points, 109-80. They have been failing on both ends of the court, and at some point, the team has to take a long, hard look at themselves and figure out what in the world they're doing wrong that has led to this putrid level of play as of late.
For LeBron James, the blame starts on the Lakers players' shoulders.
“It’s not on the coaches. It’s definitely on us, for sure,” James said, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
It is easy to pin the blame on the coaching staff whenever a team comes out flat and downright unprepared to play like the Lakers did on Wednesday night. And for a Lakers fanbase that has gotten a ton of mileage out of blaming the likes of Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham over the past few seasons, JJ Redick could soon be under fire.
But for James to take accountability for the Lakers' disastrous performances as of late has to be comforting of sorts for the team. When someone like James, perhaps the most decorated player in NBA history, takes ownership of his shortcomings, it implores the rest of the team to fall in line and follow his lead. And that is something they will need to keep on doing amid this brutal stretch.
The Lakers need to improve the roster however they can
Now, it has to be said that the Lakers have been missing Austin Reaves over their past three games, which explains some of their struggles on the offensive end. But Reaves' absence alone isn't enough to explain getting blown out by a combined 70 points over their past two games.
At this point, it's looking like the Lakers need a point guard upgrade over D'Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent, a quality wing defender who's better on both ends than Rui Hachimura and Cam Reddish, and then another big considering how thin they are in the frontcourt behind Anthony Davis. And it's not quite clear if LA can acquire the requisite upgrades with the assets they have.
