The Lakers Are On The Verge Of A Rebuild
In the offseason, the Lakers were deemed to be the “team to beat” by many across the league given that they paired LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the “triple-double king” in Russell Westbrook.
Well, the Lakers are 58 games into the season, they have no chemistry on the floor with one another and are currently 27-31, just four games up on the 11th place New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference.
This team has not been able to catch a break with injuries, which has contributed to their downfall, but the front-office is really the main cause of why the Lakers are so bad this season.
The “Russell Westbrook experiment” has failed hard for the Lakers this year and as a result, it is costing them upwards of $44 million. With their “Big 3” making a combined $120 million this season and Talen Horton-Tucker’s contract being way above value, the Lakers are currently stuck in luxury tax land with no way out.
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This limited them being able to make key moves at the trade deadline and heading into this upcoming offseason, they will continue to be well over the luxury tax threshold.
There is no way for them to get out of Russell Westbrook’s contract right now and with Anthony Davis constantly being injured, now may be the time for Los Angeles to give up on contending for championship and just rebuild, especially if they want to see success after LeBron James leaves or retires.
The Lakers have almost no draft capital over the next several years, they have no valuable young talents and are paying one of the highest luxury tax bills in the league for a team that is barely going to make the play-in tournament.
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The era of contending for championships in Los Angeles is over and after giving up talents like Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Jordan Clarkson, the Lakers have just one title to show.
