With the Los Angeles Lakers' season in the proverbial toilet, wholesale changes were to be expected. The first casualty in the inevitable revamp seems to be head coach Frank Vogel.

The news of the looming end to Frank Vogel's three-year tenure with the Lakers has already spread even before the regular season officially comes to an end.

Via Bleacher Report:

Now, as the finish line for this tumultuous 2021-22 campaign mercifully arrives, the Lakers are still expected to part ways with embattled play-caller Frank Vogel, sources told B/R, and the anticipated vacancy on Los Angeles’ bench has produced no shortage of potential candidates linked to fill the position.

But does Frank Vogel deserve this? Or has he simply become the easy scapegoat for a Lakers season gone wrong for a multitude of reasons out of his control? It's hard not to lean towards the latter, given just how much has gone wrong with the purple and gold's campaign this season. Here are three clear (3) reasons why Frank Vogel was done dirty by the Lakers this season:

The Russell Westbrook trade

Some coaches around the NBA do have some sway over roster decisions. But while Frank Vogel is a well-respected coach around the league, it's hard to imagine he had much influence on the Lakers' offseason moves. The largest domino to fall was the acquisition of Russell Westbrook. The deal, or at least the firm intention to make one, was reportedly consummated over dinner as Westbrook met with LeBron James and Anthony Davis to orchestrate a blockbuster move for the former MVP.

From there, LA went on to sign aged veteran after aged veteran in an attempt to stack a roster filled with championship-caliber players. But all their moves worked better in theory than in practice.

While Frank Vogel is far from a perfect coach, it's hard to pin the blame on him over such a hodgepodge of a roster not playing up to standard. It doesn't take a trained eye to anticipate a clash in play between LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. Their overlapping skill sets became a huge challenge to figure out while also operating under the championship expectations at the start of the year.

Frank Vogel would have to balance keeping Russell Westbrook happy with pulling him out of games at times when he his play wouldn't mesh properly with what LA was trying to do. He was definitely out there imagining it was Buddy Hield spacing the floor for LeBron James and Anthony Davis instead.

Injuries galore

The Lakers couldn't muster up a legitimate title defense last season after getting ravaged by injuries to their stars in LeBron James and Anthony. Frank Vogel wasn't seen as the problem then.

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But this year LA faced the same circumstances with their two biggest stars. Anthony Davis played in 50% of his games last season, and is currently a game shy of that mark this season.

The injuries to Anthony Davis seemed inevitable at this point. But while it's no longer surprising to see AD miss games for the Lakers, it doesn't change the impact that has on the trajectory of their season.

Couple that with the fact that LeBron James, who had himself a monster season for a 37-year-old, has once again missed over 30% of his games just like last year. Add to that the fact that likely rotation player Kendrick Nunn ended up missing the entire season.

When your two best players miss as much time as they have the past two seasons, it's hard to pin the blame on the coach. They didn't last season, but somehow do so this season.

Championship cache not enough

Considering that Frank Vogel led the Lakers to their first title in over a decade, you would think that two down seasons wouldn't be enough to displace him. Winning a championship is the name of the game, and the coach able to deliver just that should have some immunity at least for a handful of years.

But the normal rules like that don't apply to the Lakers. That's the risk of doing business with one of the marquee franchises in the NBA. There's an increased spotlight on your performance and increased pressure to reach any expectations set for the season.

Add to that the fact that LeBron James is chasing championships with his final few seasons and the pressure to perform bumps up to even greater heights.

The Los Angeles Lakers needed someone to pin the blame on despite the roster decisions and bad injury luck ultimately what's held them back the most this season. Even a championship ring as recently as two years ago wasn't enough to save Frank Vogel.