Big Changes Lakers Must Make If They Miss NBA Playoffs
The definition of a worst-case scenario for the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers keeps changing, but the latest truly feels like rock bottom.
The proud Purple and Gold—a super-team oddsmakers expected to win the West, if not a world title—is in jeopardy of missing the postseason. Even a Play-In Tournament ticket isn't guaranteed at this point.
The Lakers won 21 of their first 40 games. They entered Monday night with a 29-38 record. For the non-math majors in the audience, that's an 8-19 record since the 40-game mark. Only three teams have a worse winning percentage over that stretch, and none would've been mistaken for a championship hopeful when the season opened: the Sacramento Kings, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.
The Lakers can't continue like this. Not when LeBron James' 37th birthday is behind him.
If L.A. misses out on basketball's biggest dance, massive change could and should be happening soon. The following three items might top the summer to-do list.
The Brodie Breakup
1 of 3
Russell Westbrook's tenure with the team was doomed before it started.
He just never fit what the Lakers really needed. Sure, they could talk themselves into weaponizing the athletic point guard as a ball-screening, quick-cutting support player, but where was the evidence he would welcome such a change? When the hope of trading for a $44.2 million former MVP is that the player will completely overhaul his skill set and play a completely new brand of ball, that's a deal you're better off not making.
L.A., of course, thought otherwise, so here we are. Not only is Westbrook failing to lighten the load shouldered by James, but the King's life is actually made more difficult by Westbrook's erratic shooting and turnover problems.
This can't go on past this season. The Lakers and Westbrook have different divorce options, but the most important thing is simply that they split and never look back. Both would be much better off without the other.
A Talen Horton-Tucker Trade
2 of 3
Get to this offseason, and L.A. will gain the ability to trade an additional first-round pick.
Granted, that still gives the Lakers just two movable firsts, and they are way off into the distance (2027 and 2029), which is a tricky proposition for a team following the lead of a 37-year-old and his 29-year-old, oft-injured sidekick. But if L.A. has an impact move up its sleeve this summer, it probably involves sacrificing both picks to achieve something other than a Westbrook salary dump.
The Lakers will need to make the money work for that theoretical exchange, though, which is where Talen Horton-Tucker comes in. He is, believe it or not, the fourth-highest earner on the team, trailing only James, Westbrook and Anthony Davis with a $9.5 million salary, per Spotrac. That isn't an enormous number, but for a top-heavy team like this, it looms as the most logical path to a trade upgrade.
Horton-Tucker has failed to launch this season—his third in the NBA and first on a significant salary—and that can't help his market, but he could still have suitors. He's still just 21 years old and possesses an intriguing skill set built around a bunch of scoring tricks and plucky, versatile defense. The Lakers can't afford to wait on his development any longer, but a long-term rebuilder might one day reap significant rewards if it practices the patience he needs.
New Leadership
3 of 3
Once the curtains drop on this campaign, the guillotine might follow suit.
Fall so far beneath expectations, and that's just the reality for the NBA's movers and shakers. The question for the Lakers isn't whether someone will take the fall, it's how many will be held responsible and subsequently shown the door.
Coach Frank Vogel sat atop an inferno earlier in the season, and many around the league still feel he will be replaced after this season, per B/R's Eric Pincus. Could vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka wind up on the chopping block? After all, those are his fingerprints on the decisions to trade for Westbrook, re-sign Horton-Tucker and let Alex Caruso walk in free agency.
It's hard to say whether L.A. will (or even should) replace both its head coach and its top decision-maker, but each is an option worth exploring at the least. If the Lakers find themselves needing both a skipper and a front office leader, they should work to build synergy between the positions. This might be their last chance to make this work before James exits his prime; adding a coach and executive who agree on how to pursue that goal could help get this entire organization properly aligned.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
