The NBA regular season continues, and the Lakers have ended their battle with the Suns. After a good start, the Lakers suffered another crash in the 3rd quarter. With three games to go before the end of the regular season, the Lakers missed the playoffs in advance. For a long time, the Lakers have been struggling in the playoffs, they compete with teams such as the Spurs Pelicans for play-off spots, but in the recent Lakers suffered a wave of losing streaks, while his direct rivals, the Spurs are far ahead after a wave of winning streaks, and the Lakers currently have a record of 31 wins and 48 losses. The Spurs' record is 34-45, which means that the Lakers did not qualify for the playoffs. From winning the championship to missing the play-offs, the Lakers only used 79 games.
Time back to the season, the Lakers in order to launch another assault on the championship in the 21-22 season, they made a big change in the lineup, signed a number of veterans, signed Nunn for 2 years and 10 million to use the precious mini middle class, the biggest move for the Lakers is to trade Westbrook. The Lakers, who make up the 360 group, are seen as one of the biggest favorite teams to win the championship this season. But it is this operation that has laid hidden dangers for the Lakers this season. A series of problems such as injury troubles and lineup run-ins have dragged this championship-winning favorite into the abyss step by step, until now it has missed the playoffs in advance. And the other team traded by the Wizards also missed the playoffs, there is no worst only worse, after a season to see the trade, the Lakers and James became the biggest losers.
Loser One: The Lakers. For the Lakers, they suffered a first round trip last season, in order to break the situation, the team adjusted the lineup in the offseason to form the Big Three, but in the selection of the third big man, it was revealed that they liked DeRozan, and finally because of various factors, they finally chose Westbrook. While Westbrook's salary this season is 44 million, the salary of the Big Three directly locks the Lakers, and there is no excess salary to increase the depth and thickness of the lineup.
After arriving at the team, the compatibility of the big three became one of the biggest problems for the Lakers in addition to injuries, in order to seek to solve this problem, Vogel tried different lineup combinations, and many times only small lineups could be used, which further increased the health consumption of James and thick eyebrows, coupled with the team's injury troubles, the starting lineup was unstable, and the complete tactical system was never formed. Missing the playoffs is also reasonable. Next season, Wei Shao's salary is as high as 47 million, the big three locked the Lakers' salary space, how to operate the lineup to build is the biggest problem facing the Lakers, all of which are related to the transaction to get Westbrook, it can be said that the Lakers this deal not only lost this season, but even directly affected the next season.
Loser two: James. He averaged 37.2 minutes per game. Averaging 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.3 steals,1.1 blocks per game, he shot 52.4 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from three-point range. The last time James averaged 30+ points per game was in the 07-08 Cavaliers season, when James was 23 years old, and this season James is 37 years old, James who played such a performance can still be said to be the peak performance, if in such a state to win the points, play in the playoffs, or even win the championship, then what it means for James is needless to say. But now everything is a bubble, and the Lakers, who missed the playoffs earlier, missed James' second spring. And what kind of state James can maintain next season is not yet known. After joining the Lakers, James won a championship once, a playoff first round trip, and twice missed the playoffs, for James he is undoubtedly the biggest loser.
The next Lakers have 3 games, whether James will play to fight for the scoring king, it depends on how he chooses, for the Lakers management they can now consider how to adjust the team in the offseason, there has been news before the Lakers will abandon the head coach Vogel, looking for a new head coach candidate, of course, what will happen next needs to be left to time to verify.