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Only 22 games are left in the Los Angeles Lakers schedule, but they are still three games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the eighth and final slot in the 2019 NBA Playoffs. Ahead of them are the Sacramento Kings and they are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 29-31 record. This was not what the Lakers brass envisioned when they signed one of the game’s greatest players to a four-year contract last summer.
They were supposed to be one of the top eight teams in the Western Conference after LeBron James came on board. Instead, he is treading unfamiliar waters as his team is on the outside looking in. If the Lakers fail to make the playoffs this season, there’s going to be unrest both on the management side and on the players’ side.
James has reverted to criticizing his teammates once again, a practice he has employed the past few years whenever his Cleveland Cavaliers teams under-performed for a number of games. This time, it’s the Lakers are feeling his venom in recent comments in the media.
After losing to the Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans 128-115, the 15-time All-Star questioned his team’s sense of urgency and ability to play “uncomfortably.”
“How many know what's at stake if you've never been there?” James asked via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I'm playing devil's advocate, you know? It's kind of a fine line when you talk about that, because when you've never been there or know what it takes to actually shoot for something like that, sometimes you're afraid to get uncomfortable.
“So you got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. So I'm not saying that's what we are as a whole. It kind of looks that way at times, that sometimes we're afraid to be uncomfortable and kind of get out of our comfort zone and kind of, you know, have that sense of urgency from the jump, and not be afraid to actually go out and fail to succeed. So I mean, we have, what — 23 games left? We'll see what happens.”
Well, everyone’s uncomfortable now thanks to another loss, a 115-110 nail biter to the Memphis Grizzlies — another non-playoff team missing its best player, Marc Gasol. In this case, the Grizzlies traded that player away and aren’t exactly hoping to make the playoffs any longer.
Now what?
Should the Lakers falter in their quest to make the playoffs, you can be sure that a shakeup will be in order within a few days of what is shaping up to be a disastrous season.
Here are five repercussions if the Lakers fail to enter the postseason for the sixth consecutive season.
5. Heads will roll
If he doesn’t lose his job in the next few weeks he’ll most certainly lose it after another non-playoff showing. Luke Walton is learning the hard way that coaching a Hall of Fame-bound player comes astronomically high expectations. There’s no excuse for a talented team like the Lakers to fall short of the postseason.
General manager Rob Pelinka is a long shot but, his job might not be as secure as it seems to be. He and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson worked long and hard to woo James to the Lakers, but their decision to try and surround the former Cavaliers star with playmakers rather than shooters is one of the reasons why the season is failing before our very eyes. Johnson might also be another exec to get axed when all is said and done.
4. They won’t get Anthony Davis in a trade
Do you think the New Orleans Pelicans will want anything to do with a bunch of young players who don’t know how to win? Anthony Davis will either go to the Boston Celtics or to another team but most definitely not to the Lakers. The remaining several weeks of this season is a tryout of sorts, one that Pelicans management is keenly observing to determine their next course of action when it comes to Davis’ future destination.
As much potential as Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram have, if they can’t win together in a purple and gold uniform, then there’s no point in bringing the same guys to New Orleans. If the Lakers want Davis in a trade, they’ll have to work extra to add a third or maybe even a fourth team for the Pelicans to get better assets. That’s a tougher road ahead for management as they need to find a way to disperse their players to multiple teams rather than simply sending them all to one team.
3. Lakers will look to trade Ball, Hart, Kuzma and Ingram
Yes, I said earlier that they won’t be getting Davis in exchange for the Lakers’ young core, but that doesn’t mean the Lakers will keep the kiddos either. James will only have three years left in his contract to win a championship in L.A. so the clock is ticking. The can’t wait for Ball, Hart, Kuzma and Ingram to reach their potential any longer.
Expect the Lakers to blow up their roster and trade them for players who are ready to win championships now. Sure, they’ll have lots of cap space to sign another All-Star to a max-level contract, but that still won’t address the fact that the youngsters failed them during their first year with James in the lineup. That’s a tough pill to swallow but management should have anticipated what their summer superstar signing entailed ahead of time.
Let’s face it. We all know that the only one who’s safe in a Lakers uniform is James. Everyone else is expendable. If the young quartet continues to play sub-par basketball, then their future is not going to be in purple and gold.
2. LeBron’s legacy will take a huge hit
The season has not been kind to James who started the season on a rough note, got the Lakers to follow him and led them to one of the top records in the Western Conference only for his team to fall apart near the end. For 14 seasons, James has always led his team to the postseason. During nine of those years, he’s been to the Finals including the last eight seasons.
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Missing the playoffs will not be good for his legacy.
To be fair, James missed 18 games due to a groin injury he suffered against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day. Without their fearless leader, the Lakers lost 11 of those games and moved down from fifth place in the West to their current position of 10th.
But history will not accept excuses in the same manner that the media and all LeBron haters will refuse to give him any. The 16-year veteran has not been playing like the LeBron of recent years. Whether it’s age, injury or apathy that has kept him from performing better since returning to the lineup, James at least needs to play with a sense of urgency. His defense over the past few games has been awful, to say the least. If the Lakers youngsters are going to shape up, he will have to show them that he cares enough to play at the other end of the court, too. Then, maybe then, L.A. will have a better chance of sneaking in as the eighth seed at the very least.
Otherwise, the King’s time on the throne will soon be over and a new era may begin sooner than expected. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.
Which leads us to the biggest, most far-reaching repercussion of a failed season.
1. LeBron’s decline from being the best player in the world
We’ve seen it happen this season but it really has been happening before our very eyes the last few years. The inability to lead his team the way he used to is apparent this season in ways we haven’t seen before. This is so unlike his early days in Cleveland and the first two years of his return, as well as his time as the top dog with the Miami Heat.
He was getting by with poor defense the past few years but it has finally caught up to him. James continues to have the ability to turn back the clock and play like the LeBron of old. But this year more than ever, it’s been more of old LeBron than anything.
Opponents no longer fear him and they routinely get by him when he’s defending them. This wasn’t the case before when James was one of the best two-way players in the game. His time at the top has been at an end and we have simply refused to acknowledge that we’re seeing a less focused and more selective player than we’re used to seeing.
Why?
Because of his playoff heroics. For the past few years, James will always shut us up by playing his best in the postseason and we are all silenced once more. The 4-time Most Valuable Player has been conserving his best for the playoffs and we’ve seen him turn on “beast mode” from April to June. But that also has left his tank close to empty by the time the Finals rolled around. As good as he has been during the title round most of the time, we’ve all witnessed how he has had very little left in the tank during the most critical moments of some very important games.
This time, that kind of strategy doesn’t work any longer. His groin injury was the first big sign of a decline in his otherworldly physical state. As arguably the most physically fit athlete in the league, a kink in his armor has finally revealed itself and more of this may yet come.
With this vacancy at the top, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and now Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard seek to take his place. Curry and Durant have succeeded to dethrone him in the Finals and Harden has taken over the regular season narrative for best player. George, Leonard and Antetokounmpo have joined the fray this year.
If James misses the playoffs this year, no one will be predicting that James will win the MVP Award next year. Not any longer.
The media won’t be as forgiving of his faults, the All-Star votes won’t be as high, the best players will not be as easy to convince to play with him and even fantasy leagues might rank him lower. With James’ time at the top beginning to look like a work of fiction than a reality, there’s no telling how soon it will be before the Lakers lose their patience with him as well.
The only way to reverse the process and keep these repercussions from happening is for the Lakers to get their act together and start winning. But as you can see plainly over the past few weeks, that’s easier said than done.
