Yesterday, on ESPN, former NBA shooting guard and current analyst J.J. Reddick had some strong words for the Los Angeles Lakers and their struggles thus far this season. Reddick cited the Lakers lack of production on offense and the fact that several players on the team are aging and past their primes.
“The reality is, we’re 44 games into the season. The Lakers have shown us who they are. They’re 24th in offense and 18th in defense. They’re a bad team,” said Reddick on ESPN’s First Take. “They’re not a very good team. This roster was constructed with a few exceptions of course, Lebron being one of them, Anthony Davis being one of them. This roster was constructed with players that are past their prime.”
Reddick went on to defend coach Frank Vogel amidst reports that his job is in jeopardy and he was almost fired after their loss to the Nuggets.
“I don’t think this is on him,” Reddick said. “This roster is very poorly constructed, and when you talk about a change, I want to explain something real quick. The Lakers don’t have a lot of options to make any changes.”
As a Lakers fan, it’s painful to accept, but Reddick is spot on with his observations. I wrote a piece over the summer examining the Lakers as a team and what their strengths and weaknesses were. One weakness I touched on was the age of several of their players.
I don’t ever count Lebron James out, but he’s struggled with his health this year. Russell Westbrook is also aging and not having a good season. This is a team with players who are well past their prime and don’t have much left to give at this point in their careers.
If the playoffs were to begin today, the Lakers would qualify for the No. 8 seed at 22-22. They could get past the play-in round, but from there, it’s hard to imagine them going any further, unless they can conjure up some magic like the 2019 Washington Nationals did in baseball. This team is coming apart at the seams and don’t really have options to improve the team, as Reddick pointed out. They can’t trade away any first round picks. All they can really do is see if they can find any takers for Talen Horton Tucker or Kendrick Nunn, which is highly unlikely.
The Lakers are a deeply flawed team and don’t have much hope of turning it around. It’s really hard to imagine them making it out of the Conference Quarterfinals, as beating the defending Western Conference Champion Suns would be an incredibly tall order.
