Lakers Players Who Have to Elevate Their Game in 2023
The Los Angeles Lakers carried championship expectations into the 2022-23 NBA season.
They may have been super optimistic, they weren't necessarily realistic, but they were present.
Two months into the campaign, they carry a 13-18 record after Wednesday night's defeat to the Sacramento Kings, which has them slotted 13th in the Western Conference standings. Clearly, a ton of things have gone awry with this group.
If this is ever going to get straightened out, though, the following three players must elevate their game in the new year.
Patrick Beverley
1 of 3
If you subscribed to the belief that you should say nothing when you don't have nice things to say, then you'd only wax poetically on Patrick Beverley's defense.
On the game's less glamorous end of the floor, the 34-year-old has been his typically disruptive self. Statistically, he's not quite a lockdown stopper, but he lands in the top 60 of Defensive RAPTOR, per FiveThirtyEight, and ranks in the 67th percentile for estimated defensive plus-minus, per Dunks and Threes.
Those numbers are fine—not elite, but serviceable. Or rather, they would be good enough if Beverley was even competent on offense. He hasn't come close.
His production on that end features one personal-worst after the next, including 5.3 points per game, 35.8 percent shooting and a 27 success rate from three. His floor presence alone has dragged down L.A.'s offensive efficiency by 5.1 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
Lonnie Walker IV
2 of 3
Now, this selection might surprise some, since Lonnie Walker IV has been the Lakers' third-best scorer so far.
In fact, Walker appears on the same developmental track that Malik Monk followed last season, which led to both a career campaign and a big payday in free agency. Like Monk, Walker is hitting several career-highs, including 15.5 points per game and a 47.1 field-goal percentage that buries his previous best.
Here's the thing, though: L.A. needs more if it's going to win anything of substance.
Walker can still be maddeningly inconsistent. He's had six games with 20-plus points and another seven in which he failed to crack double digits. His assist percentage (7) is lower than his turnover percentage (7.1), per Basketball-Reference. He still isn't close to becoming the defender that his physical tools say he could be.
Russell Westbrook
3 of 3
Chances are you've heard some mention of how much better Russell Westbrook has fit since moving to the second team.
That's technically true, but it's a little deceiving. It sounds a bit like praise of the point guard's play off the bench, but it's more a reflection of how awful he fit with the starting group.
His numbers are better off the bench, but they still aren't great—and certainly nowhere near where they need to be to justify his enormous $47.1 million salary, per Spotrac. Since joining the second unit, he has averaged 15 points on 41.3/29.5/66.7 shooting and 8.0 assists against 3.8 turnovers.
If the Lakers aren't going to trade Westbrook, which would cost them at least one future first-round pick, then they need to find ways to make his production more efficient, or at least more impactful. In theory, the former MVP should be a major asset as the leader of the bench mob, but L.A. has been outscored during his minutes as a sub.
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