There's some drama surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers franchise at the moment, and their play on the court has not helped matters whatsoever. They continue to play inconsistent basketball; coming off a huge win over the Denver Nuggets earlier this week, the Lakers proceeded to struggle on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, falling just short in their comeback bid, 112-104, in a game that they trailed by as many as 26 points.
The Lakers are always going to bear the weight of heavy expectations, especially with two incredible superstars in Luka Doncic and LeBron James leading the way and a burgeoning third star in Austin Reaves also around. Not every team can thrive despite expectations, and it seems like these are getting to their head.
As pointed out by Lakers Nation on X (formerly Twitter), on the Amazon Prime broadcast of the Lakers and Clippers' clash, James' former co-star, Dwyane Wade, observed that there was no joy whatsoever to what the Purple and Gold were doing.
The Lakers have so many players with loud body languages, chief among them Doncic and James. It's hard to maintain joy when they fall behind by that huge of a deficit to a geographical rival, and they simply dug themselves in too big of a hole.
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Changes have to come for this Lakers squad
Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) leave a court after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-85 in game two of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
The Lakers do not regret making the Doncic trade one bit, but their roster hasn't yet stabilized since pulling off that heist. They don't have the personnel quite yet to maximize Doncic's talents and hide his weaknesses, and it shows in their day-to-day inconsistency particularly on the defensive end of the floor.
However, the Lakers don't seem to be inclined to pull off a blockbuster trade prior to this year's deadline, preferring instead to take the patient approach when it comes to building around Doncic. But does the team's fanbase share that same patience?