Three ways the Lakers can turn their season around:
Starting the season at 3–10 is not something the Lakers thought they'd be at before the season, given the always high expectations surrounding Lebron James and the Lakers franchise. But here we are, unfortunately.
With LeBron turning 38 next month, the window for a championship is closing for the Lakers, and the margin is getting smaller for those chances of success to go their way.
So the biggest question remains. Can they turn the season around despite their horrible start? Possibly. Not all hope is lost for the purple and gold.
Get healthier and remain healthy.
It appears Rob Pelinka and the Lakers are waiting to see how their current roster performs when fully healthy. Before they make any trades, it looks as though they're going to evaluate how the roster plays together once they're at full strength.
Dennis Schröder and Thomas Bryant are set to be back on Friday for their matchup against the Detroit Pistons after missing the first thirteen games of the season to thumb injuries.
With the return of Schröder and Bryant, the Lakers are going to get better in two aspects: their perimeter defense and floor spacing.
The perimeter defense will get a boost with Schröder in the rotation, who can match up well against opposing guards.
The floor will have much-needed spacing with the option of having Bryant back in the lineup. The Lakers can go the route of starting Bryant at center, with Anthony Davis explaining how much he prefers the four spot to “roam.”
Missing three of the last four games, LeBron has recently dealt with a groin injury that has listed him as day-to-day.
As we all know, given the injury history Davis has had since college, his availability is the MOST important, having dealt with back soreness since the preseason.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ health is key to the Lakers' success. Without them, the Lakers are as good as any lottery team.
A Trade.
One of the most rumored teams for a trade since the offseason, the Lakers are due for a trade sooner rather than later if the team continues its 3–10 play.
The Lakers' future two first-round picks have been the center of their trades this year. The Lakers' reason for the delay in dealing them was not wanting to give both away in one trade. AKA, not putting all their eggs in one basket.
The Lakers have been linked the most to these three teams: the Pacers, Spurs, and Hornets.
The biggest and most talked-about trade the Lakers could execute is involving Pacers’ Buddy Hield and Myles Turner. That trade could benefit the Lakers immediately, giving them a known three-point sniper [Hield] and one of the best blocking frontcourts in the NBA with Davis and Turner.
The Spurs deal has been rumored to involve Josh Richardson, Doug McDermott, and Jakob Poeltl. Richardson and McDermott are high-volume three-point shooters who can instantly help spread the floor.
The Hornets deal recently came to life at the start of the season when the Hornets struggled due to Melo Ball's ankle injury.
Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, and P.J. Washington have all been linked to the Lakers in a possible trade.
One of the reasons they signed Dennis Schöder was the possibility of trading for a player like Terry Rozier. Rozier and Hayward would bring the Lakers the playmakers they currently lack outside of LeBron and Davis. Washington provides a much-needed young 3-and-D wing they’ve been salivating for.
The Lakers need to be extremely certain with how they make a deal this season involving their future first-round picks. If they choose the wrong deal, they could regret it fast, with no other value in the future to bail them out.
Let the chemistry start to gel and build momentum.
Like all teams in the NBA, one thing that this Lakers team is in desperate need of is time to build chemistry. Look at the Utah Jazz, for example. Any team has a chance to play well, and one important aspect that factors into it is how well they can gel together.
The Jazz were a projected tank for Victor Wembanyam lottery team before shocking the NBA and demonstrating how playing team basketball can change your culture, as they're tied for the most wins in the West (10).
If the Lakers execute a trade they could have made when it was most rumored to happen, before NBA media day, then it’s going to circle back to why they didn't just make it then when they could have given them more time to build chemistry.
The Lakers should therefore focus on developing as much team chemistry as they can in the short term so that when they make a deal and add a few players, the transition will be less difficult. Chemistry is one important factor that hasn’t been talked about surrounding this Lakers team.
Don’t panic; the good news is that there are 69 games left in the season, giving the Lakers plenty of time to turn this around. But they better start now than later, given how strong the Western Conference is playing.
