Los Angeles Lakers Must Go All Out to Make NBA Playoffs Next Season

There are certain accepted norms in sports, and one is that the Los Angeles Lakers are almost always a prominent part of the playoffs.

This year was an exception with a historically bad 21-61 season, as was the previous year’s worst-ever record at 27-55. It has been a rough stretch, as the team begins to transition from the Kobe Bryant era. 

As unthinkable as it may once have seemed, the exception is in danger of becoming the rule in Los Angeles.

Consider the numbers for a moment—67 seasons and 60 times to the postseason. The Lakers have won 16 championships and 31 conference titles. And they have never, ever missed the playoffs three times in a row.

The 2015-16 season cannot set a new precedent. There is simply too much at stake.

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Valuation is one element, although not necessarily the most pressing at the moment. Yes, continued losses will ultimate erode ticket sales and television ratings, but the Lakers were listed as the richest franchise in the NBA this season by Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes, and their massive $24 billion Time Warner Cable deal will continue to pay huge dividends. 

But a failure to make it to the playoffs next time around could also be the final nail in the coffin for the team’s chain of command. Jim Buss, who is one of the owners and the head of basketball operations, famously pledged to his siblings to step down in a few years if the franchise was not at least contending for a Western Conference title. 

The family summit of six brothers and sisters occurred in February 2014 and was reported on by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.

“I don’t know if you can fire yourself if you own the team,” Buss told the Times. “But what I would say is I'd walk away, and you guys figure out who's going to run basketball operations because I obviously couldn't do the job.”

Buss has already failed to advance to the playoffs twice since that winter meeting, and the clock is ticking both loudly and ominously.

This past December, team president Jeanie Buss and her brother Jim were interviewed by Ramona Shelburne for ESPN The Magazine. Jeanie was asked for her take on that particular promise.

“There's no reason to worry because he feels confident that he'll be successful,” replied Jeanie. “So really, there's no reason to announce a timeline. But I think that, just like any business, if you're not meeting your expectations in an organization, you should expect a change."

Jeanie was then asked what the fallout would be if the team failed to advance to even the first round this season.

“That’s not how we anticipate this season to go,” Jeanie said. “We’ve never in over 30 years of ownership, missed making the playoffs two consecutive years, so I really can’t tell you what the hit will be.”

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The Lakers have in fact missed back-to-back playoffs on one other occasion, but that was during Jack Kent Cooke’s ownership.

There are other difficult scenarios to envision as well, including an unseemly ending to the career of one of basketball’s true greats.

Bryant will return for his 20th and likely final season in the fall, laying it on the line once again for the only NBA team he has ever known. He has been beaten up badly over the past few seasons with career-threatening injuries. But his fire for the game has never been questioned.

Aging he may be, but Bryant has long been the face of the franchise. He is a five-time champion, a 17-time All-Star, an NBA MVP, a two-time scoring champion and is the league’s third all-time scoring leader. The rest of his career achievements would fill the page.

How do you send this guy off to a rocking chair without at least one more postseason experience?

It would be unconscionable.

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The march of time is relentless. Teams have their peak years, and then they age and rebuild. But not every great team simply crumbles to dust along the way. The San Antonio Spurs haven’t missed the playoffs once during the Tim Duncan era.

Where were the Spurs on the Forbes list? They came in at No. 11 on the wealth meter—not shabby, but they're also not one of the elite earners. That hasn’t prevented the organization from consistently rolling out a competitive roster.

Unfortunately, the Lakers haven’t had that kind of continuity in recent years—the team is now on its third coach since Phil Jackson stepped away. The team also suffered a major loss when Dr. Jerry Buss passed away in 2013.

Byron Scott is the latest of the post-Jackson experiments, and he took the job last summer in hopes of restoring some semblance of the glory days. After all, Scott won three titles as a member of the Showtime Lakers. 

But the results of his first season in Los Angeles as head coach are mixed at best, and while blame can be assigned to injuries or a weak roster, excuses are ultimately no more than that. Scott's honeymoon will only last so long.

As for the revolving lineup, Bryant only has one teammate who goes as far back as three seasons with him, and that’s Jordan Hill, whose contract status is up in the air with the team undecided on his $9 million option.

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This isn’t to say that a quick turnaround is out of the question. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said as much during his recent season exit interview, per Lakers.com.

“Losing 60 games is really nothing to be proud about,” Kupchak said before addressing the immediate future. “Every year we have the same goal, which is to win a championship. We can get better quickly.” Kupchak responded when asked about Jeannie holding Jim responsible for the Lakers' situation (via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News):

The longtime Lakers executive went on to say, “A lot depends on May 19, how we end up with the lottery.”

Scott will be the team’s representative Tuesday at the 31st annual ping-pong ritual which will be held at the New York Hilton Midtown. Fourteen numbered orbs will toss and turn with 1,001 combinations.

The Lakers, who had the fourth-worst record in the league this season, have an 82.8 percent chance of keeping their top-five-protected pick. If they fall outside that range, they will have to forfeit it to the Philadelphia 76ers, who inherited it in a trade with the Phoenix Suns in February.

Scott and the rest of the Lakers organization will be hoping for the best—the team has a 37.8 percent chance of claiming one of the top three picks. 

No Lakers fan wants to think about the horror of falling out of the top five and handing that selection away, but there are a couple of consolation prizes—the team has the No. 27 and No. 34 picks and could also look to move up through a trade of some sort.

And then comes the free-agency period on July 1. With cash in its pocket, the front office can pursue a max-contract-type player or spread the money through any number of scenarios.

Available names on the open market this summer can and will be debated ad nauseam. Will Marc Gasol or Kevin Love actually leave their respective teams? Is rapidly declining point guard Rajon Rondo worth a fire-sale contract?

But at the end of the day, there is a simpler truth than an examination of all the able-bodied players in the NBA universe.

And that is this—a once-mighty team has stumbled badly in recent years, and the front office has all the tools necessary to correct its downward spiral.

And to fail once again would send a terrible signal to fans, free agents and the league at large—this team is no longer a superpower.

If Scott can’t maximize his players' combined efforts, he will have failed Bryant in the superstar’s sunset years. The same can be said for the organization's failure to surround its centerpiece with teammates who can stand on their own.

And if the Lakers fail to reach the playoffs for three years running, Jim Buss may very well be held to his word.

But those are the worst-case scenarios, and all Lakers supporters are hoping for much better than that—for their team to go all out next season and return to regular relevance.