The Los Angeles Lakers Are Pure Mediocrity

The Los Angeles Lakers won a title just two years ago, but it does not feel like that when watching them today.

The Lakers are 11-16, the last two losses have been overtime heartbreakers, and rumors continue to follow the team. It has not been a great start to the season for head coach Darvin Ham and company. But what exactly is going wrong with the Purple & Gold?

Three Guard Lineups

A heavy critique of the Lakers has been the roster construction. Because the team has so much money tied to their top three players, general manager Rob Pelinka filled the roster with veteran minimum players. As a result, the roster is loaded with backcourt players. And as such, the Lakers run with a multitude of three-guard lineup minutes.

The issue is that a majority of the lineups are graded negatively. The trio of Russell Westbrook, Austin Reaves, and Dennis Schroeder are -2.6 in 12 games played together. Another lineup with Westbrook, Schroeder, and Patrick Beverley is an even worse -4.7 in seven games. The worst of all is a lineup of Westbrook, Schroder, and Lonnie Walker that combined for a -5.3 net rating in 11 games together.

In addition, a lot of the guards have been shooting poorly this season. Westbrook, Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn all have true shooting percentages below 50%. Beverley’s 43.6% rank amongst the worst in the NBA. On the opposite end, Reaves is second on the team with 66.8%. However, he currently averages under seven shot attempts a game, while averaging nearly three free throw attempts in 29 minutes per game.

What Is the Lakers’ Identity?

This issue is not exclusive to this season, as this was a problem for them last season. The Lakers are currently ranked 22nd in offensive rating while ranking 15th in defensive rating. It continues a trend where the team finished 23rd and 21st in offensive and defensive ratings, respectively.

The Lakers have never been an elite offense during LeBron James’ years in Los Angeles. They were a solid offense in the 2019-20 season, finishing 11th in offensive rating at 112. But they ranked in the bottom half of the NBA in the metric in every other season. However, Los Angeles was able to mask the offensive struggles on the defensive end, finishing in the top three in defensive rating in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.

For Darvin Ham, his solution early on has been playing with a higher pace. Last year’s team did something similar under Frank Vogel, which led to them finishing fourth in the league in the category. The Lakers are third in the league in transition possessions per game with 22.2 per game. They are also second in frequency, with the Lakers going in transition 19.4% of the time. However, aggressiveness poses its issues, as they are the fifth worst in turnover percentage. They are also 22nd in points per possession. And as a result, they are only in the 27.6th percentile in transition offense, also 22nd in the NBA.

Is there Any Hope for Los Angeles?

The Los Angeles Lakers are not done for the season. While they are the 12th seed currently, they are 2.5 games out of the play-in tournament. However, changes are needed almost immediately.

The easy target is Russell Westbrook. He is 34 years old on an expiring $47 million contract, and his production slipped since coming to the Lakers. Westbrook’s name has been in trade rumors throughout his Lakers tenure, and he has had his role changed from starter to the sixth man. However, the rumors regarding a Westbrook trade have slowed since accepting the change in his role.

As of now, the only players on the books for next season are the two stars, LeBron James (who is signed until he is 40) and Anthony Davis. Damian Jones also has a $2.5 million player option that he may likely accept given his diminished role and a potential lack of interest in free agency. After Westbrook, the two likely candidates are Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn, both of whom are on expiring deals combining for $18.2 million. However, given the perceived hesitancy from Rob Pelinka, it is fair to question if a deal will be on the horizon for the Los Angeles Lakers.