The Los Angeles Lakers have lost three straight games with LeBron James out of the lineup, and an anonymous Lakers staffer gave an ominous update on the team without James thus far this season.
"Everyday [LeBron] is out, we sink"
— Lakers staffer to @ramonashelburne#NBATwitter #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/NU1JkTGx38
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) January 31, 2022
The Lakers are now three games below .500 in the 2021-22 campaign, and they are currently the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.
James has missed 15 games so far this season, and the Lakers have struggled mightily without him. The team is just 5-10 without James in the lineup, but it has gone 19-17 with him playing.
Los Angeles was hoping that the 2021-22 season would be much different than last season, as injuries to James and Anthony Davis led to the Lakers landing in the play-in tournament last season.
However, the Lakers have lost both James and Davis for several games in the 2021-22 campaign, and the addition of Russell Westbrook hasn’t worked out the way the team had hoped.
The Lakers were able to escape the play-in tournament last season by beating the Golden State Warriors, but they were promptly knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the Phoenix Suns.
If Los Angeles finishes with the No. 9 seed, it would need to win two play-in tournament games in order to get into the playoffs this season.
James is obviously a huge part of the Lakers’ path to success, as he is averaging 29.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Los Angeles simply doesn’t have the depth right now to win without James, and it clearly is weighing on the team, according to the anonymous staffer’s comments.
The Lakers will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers.
