LeBron James, Lakers Eliminated from 2022 NBA Playoff Race After Loss to Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers have now missed the playoffs in half of LeBron James' four seasons with the franchise.

Los Angeles was eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday after falling to the Phoenix Suns by a 121-110 score. The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets 116-97, giving San Antonio a three-game lead over the Lakers for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and the final spot in the postseason play-in tournament with three regular-season games left to be played.

This is a stunning development considering how much preseason love the Purple and Gold received as a presumed championship contender. The roster has five likely future Hall of Famers with James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, and the team isn't far removed from its 2020 title.

So much for that.

Following Tuesday's loss, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, who is firmly on the hot seat, said of missing the playoffs: "Extremely disappointed. Disappointed for our fanbase. Disappointed for the Buss family, who gave us all this opportunity and we want to play our part in bringing success to Laker basketball and we fell short."

It was clear from the early portion of the season that the Westbrook addition wouldn't work out as hoped. He was an awkward fit alongside James since both have been ball-dominant players throughout their careers, and his inability to consistently hit shots from the outside prevented him from taking advantage of the spacing created by the attention the King and Davis drew.

The nine-time All-Star also opened up about how the criticism he has received has weighed on him and his family this season.

That was far from the only problem, as Davis and James each missed significant time with injuries.

Davis told reporters he has been frustrated by the injuries following an April loss to the Denver Nuggets:

"I think the biggest thing that I think about personally is what we could have been, had we stayed healthy all year. What could we have been. ... Guys feel like, 'OK, what could we have been if I was healthy all year, [LeBron James] was healthy, [Kendrick] Nunn was healthy.' You think about those things. We put this team together and it looked good on paper, but we haven't had a chance to reach that potential with guys in and out of the lineup."

"So the most frustrating part of this season is not being sure of what we could have been."

While Davis played Tuesday after an extended absence because of a foot injury, James missed his fourth game out of the past five with ankle soreness.

Thanks in large part to the injuries that nagged James and Davis, the Lakers were left battling with the Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans for spots in the play-in tournament instead of competing with the Suns and others atop the Western Conference standings.

It appeared they would at least land one of those play-in spots until things went from bad to worse after the All-Star Break.

Starting with their loss to the L.A. Clippers on Feb. 25, the Lakers are just 4-17, including an ongoing seven-game losing streak. They tumbled out of the play-in tournament and will enter a crucial offseason with James set to turn 38 in December.

It also doesn't help that the crosstown Clippers also battled injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George but qualified for the same play-in tournament the Lakers missed.

It's more disappointment for a franchise that missed the playoffs in James' first season in 2018-19 and lost to the Suns in the first round last year.

Fortunately for the Purple and Gold, they won the 2019-20 championship inside the Walt Disney World Resort bubble. Otherwise, this latest failure would look even worse.