Lakers' Anthony Davis on Missing Playoffs: 'We Had More Starting Lineups Than Wins'

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis said the team's injury woes played a key role in missing the playoffs.

"This year, we had more starting lineups than wins," Davis told reporters.

The Lakers were eliminated from postseason contention Tuesday night with their loss to the Phoenix Suns combined with the San Antonio Spurs' win over the Denver Nuggets.

"Our goal was to win a championship," Davis said. "Feel like we had the pieces, but injuries got in the way of that. And that was the difference in the season."

Tuesday marked the Lakers' seventh straight loss and dropped the team's record to 31-48, a far cry from the type of performance that was expected when they opened the season as NBA title contenders.

Injuries have been a significant factor. James, who has missed four of the past five games with an ankle injury, has missed 23 contests in total, while Davis has sat out 39. Key role players like Talen Horton-Tucker (22 games missed) and Austin Reaves (21) were also sidelined for extended stretches.

Whether the Lakers would have suddenly transformed into a championship-caliber team with better injury fortune is up for debate, but Davis is convinced that would have been the case despite the struggles of Russell Westbrook.

"I think even though we lost games where all of us was on the floor—me, Bron, Russ—I think we're three great players, but we would have figured it out if we logged more minutes together," Davis said. "But we weren't able to do that, which makes it tough to be able to compete for a championship when your three best players haven't logged enough minutes together."

Westbrook was the prized addition of a major offseason overhaul, but he struggled to find success within a role that changed frequently depending on who was in the lineup each night.

The 2016-17 NBA MVP ranks tied for 232nd out of 250 qualified players in FiveThirtyEight's WAR metric and graded out with a negative impact at both ends of the floor.

So between the injury issues, Westbrook's struggles and nobody from the depth group emerging as a game-changing player to turn the tide back in L.A.'s favor, a season that began with so much promise ends with bitter disappointment.

"Extremely disappointed," head coach Frank Vogel said. "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."

The Lakers front office will have a lot of questions to answer in the offseason with another massive roster reconstruction likely on the horizon.

That said, there are still three more games to close out the regular season, starting Thursday night when Los Angeles visits the Golden State Warriors.