Tracy McGrady says it's time to stop blaming Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton for the team's misfortunes this season.

Instead, the ESPN NBA analyst and seven-time All-Star said the front office should own up to the Lakers' dismal performance in 2018-19. He made his sentiments known during an episode of ESPN's “The Jump” on April 3.

No, not at all. We've talked about this so many times on this show…It's all about health. If there is blame to go around, I think you have to look at the guys that put the pieces, you know, surround the talent with LeBron James.

And when a guy like LeBron James goes out, if you don't have that talent that you acquired for this team to really carry the load when a guy like LeBron is out, then you have to take some fault at that.

And they didn't put those types of players around LeBron. They tried to go a different route and, you know, put these non-traditional type, you know, pieces around LeBron, and it just didn't work out when he got hurt.

McGrady calling out the purple and gold's front office is a wake-up call to the president of basketball operations Earvin “Magic” Johnson. The latter signed James to a four-year, $153.3 million deal on July 9, 2018.

James sustained a groin injury during the Lakers' emphatic 127-101 road win over the Golden State Warriors on December 26, 2018. Los Angeles subsequently went 6-11 (.353) without James in the next 17 games.

James' return didn't help matters. The team went 8-17 (.320) in the 25 games they played since his return on February 1. They are currently 35-43 (.449) and are out of playoff contention in the Western Conference. Los Angeles has shut down James for the remaining games of the regular season due to a recurring groin injury.

Signing role players such as Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, Tyson Chandler, and JaVale McGee didn't work out as Johnson had hoped. The Lakers legend certainly has his work cut out for him in the offseason.

Hopefully, Johnson can help turn the Lakers' fortunes around in the 2019-20 NBA campaign.