On February 9, Beijing time, in an NBA regular season game that ended today, the Lakers lost to the Bucks at home with 116 forcing 131, and this game once again made the Lakers realize where the gap between them and the top teams is, and how much Westbrook is hurting the team now, playing 26 minutes, 11 shooting 3 with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers, and was again abandoned by Vogel in the fourth quarter. And the real scary part is that both Lakers players and Lakers fans have become numb to such a situation, which means that almost everyone has accepted the reality that Westbrook is no longer able to do it.
There is no doubt that the emotions that now hang in the Lakers locker room are full of despair, and even James, who has always been confident, was helpless in the post-game interview, and when asked if there was any special significance in this game that was once 30 points behind the Bucks, James said: "Yes, it shows that we are not at the same level as them." I can probably tell you this before the game. James has never been an easy person to lose, but at the same time he is also a very rational person, he naturally knows very well how bad the current Lakers really are."
The root of this is that Wei Shao's lack of strength, this game James and thick eyebrows actually played quite well, but it is still not enough to fill the gap of Wei Shao, and Wei Shao's downturn has long become the norm. According to statistics, in the past 4 games, Wei Shao can only average 10.3 points per game, shooting only 27.5%, of which the total 13 three-point shots are only 2, the three-point shooting rate is 15.4%, and the free throw shooting rate is 55%, which is simply too bad to be worse.
By now, everyone on the Lakers has realized that they are hopeless this season without a trade reinforcement. After the game, ESPN Lakers reporter Dave McMenamin wrote an article reporting on the impact of the loss on the Lakers' prospects this season. Dave McMenamin wrote: "A troubling loss to the defending champion Bucks on Tuesday night left people in the Lakers' locker room teeteringly admitting that the team lineup wasn't working and they had to take steps to get the team back on track as Thursday's trade deadline approached.
Sources revealed that for the Lakers' lineup of teams to compete for the championship, internal doubts have been going on for several weeks, and the players in the Lakers do not think it is a feasible option to improve the winning rate and perform well at the end of the season. But the problem is that the current trading space that the Lakers can carry out is very small, and tucker or Nunn can not be exchanged for players who can bring substantial changes, as for Wei Shao, it is completely impossible to trade, even if he is exchanged for Wall, the effect will not be too ideal.
Therefore, many fans even directly suggest that the Lakers are not as good as this season to choose to mess up, on the one hand, can let James and thick eyebrows have a good rest, have the best state next season, on the other hand, the Lakers can gamble in the offseason to exchange Lillard for Lillard, although the Blazers said they still want to build a team around Lillard, but for the 31-year-old Lillard, he has no time to wait. Even if the Lakers can't replace Lillard, they can seek other reinforcements in the offseason.
Of course, the biggest obstacle for the Lakers to want to mess up is actually James. Pelinka will continue to work with James before the trade deadline to try to improve the Lakers' chances of playing an in-depth playoff journey this season, the sources said. For the 37-year-old James, every year is very precious, the pendulum is undoubtedly wasting his last peak, and from James's entry into the NBA to the present, in addition to the injury factors in the 2018-2019 season, his team has never been bad, which is James's pride and persistence, but now, in the 19th season of his career, maybe James should compromise once, just like Kobe Bryant that year.