For the past two weeks, Basketball Insiders has taken a look at the teams who have been eliminated from playoff contention and what they should do in order to get themselves back into the playoffs. Next up in the series is the team with the stickiest situation of all the eliminated teams – the Memphis
Los Angeles Lakers
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 20: Head coach Luke Walton on the sidelines during the Lakers’ home opener against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 20, 2018. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 124-115. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images) NFL Draft
Last year, this writer started his tenure with Basketball Insiders writing about who had the best case for Coach of the Year. One year later, we’re revisiting the same discussion. This time, with an entirely new slate of candidates. The Coach of the Year Award produces one of the most fascinating races in the NBA
Jason Kidd is one of the best point guards in NBA history, but that doesn’t qualify him to fix the Lakers offense for LeBron James. If the Lakers fire coach Luke Walton after this season, the team could turn to Jason Kidd, but would that solve the problems that ail them? ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports
In the midst of a discouraging season, LeBron James found a bright spot, passing Michael Jordan for fourth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Michael Jordan has always cast a shadow over LeBron James’ career. Jordan redefined what greatness looked like for an individual athlete, reshaped our conception of a basketball star and threw up
Last year, this writer started his tenure with Basketball Insiders writing about who had the best case for Coach of the Year. One year later, we’re revisiting the same discussion. This time, with an entirely new slate of candidates. The Coach of the Year Award produces one of the most fascinating races in the NBA
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 17: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after a call during the second half of the game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 17, 2019 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and
LOS ANGELES, CA – JAN 27: Brandon Ingram #14 of the Los Angeles Lakers handles the ball against Mikal Bridges #25 of the Phoenix Suns on January 27, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 6: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on against the Denver Nugget on March 6 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of
On Thursday, Mar. 8, the Los Angeles Lakers were functionally eliminated from postseason contention. With the decision to sit LeBron James in back-to-backs and put a minutes restriction on the future Hall of Famer, the franchise officially waved the white flag on their already fractionally-small playoff hopes. This season was supposed to be different, obviously,
While the Atlantic Division has been the class of the league in 2018-19, it is also ripe for change come free agency. I covered the potential for change in Toronto last week – the Raptors looked well-positioned for the present as well as the future– but it’s not only Toronto that could be in for
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 15: The Lakers’ Lonzo Ball #2 during their game against the Bulls at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan 15, 2019. The Lakers defeated the Bulls 100-107. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images) Alexander Gustafsson and Corey Anderson agree to square off in Stockholm by
While the Atlantic Division has been the class of the league in 2018-19, it is also ripe for change come free agency. I covered the potential for change in Toronto last week – the Raptors looked well-positioned for the present as well as the future– but it’s not only Toronto that could be in for
LeBron is almost certainly not going to get traded this summer. It doesn’t mean we can’t imagine what a possible return for James might look like. Is there even an appropriate analogy for how quickly the Lakers’ season has spiraled out of control? As the obituaries start getting pumped out, there will be comparisons made
There’s a lot of reasons why the Lakers stink this season, but the most glaring is the LeBron James and Rajon Rondo pairing. On a night when LeBron James passed Micheal Jordan as the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer of all-time, Rajon Rondo decided to sit among the fans to watch the rest of the Denver Nuggets
The NBA regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. The action after the All-Star break is filled with teams giving younger players an extended look, franchises making a deliberate playoff push while trying to sneak in rest for their stars and some squads dare we say it – tanking. Every season there are more
Magic Johnson has a problem. His team isn’t winning, His star player is old and pondering life after basketball. All day long Magic hears Click, clack, Laker. Click, clack, Laker. Clickety, clack, Laker. He thinks of Paul Westhead often. Farmer LeBron has a problem. His cows aren’t even cows– they’re people. How could this be?
With the trade deadline in the rearview, buyout moves made and rosters largely solidified, the contours of the NBA landscape are more defined than ever and the terms of engagement for the home stretch of the NBA season are largely set. Still, so much remains up in the air, and thus fascinating to monitor as
In recent campaigns, the importance of a good, reliable bench unit has soared out the window as the rise in superteams grew larger. This is not to say that the Golden State Warriors regret not having a consistent Sixth Man of the Year contender in their second unit because, well, their back-to-back championships speak for
The Los Angeles Lakers are very much LeBron James’ team. As usual, LeBron is his team’s best player and the centrifugal force around which everything they do revolves. He leads the team in minutes, points, and rebounds per game, and sits just 0.3 assists per game behind Rajon Rondo for the team lead as well.
The craziness that was the NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone with multiple deals being made, including some big ones that sort of shook up the landscape of the Eastern Conference. Not only that, but buyout season has arrived as well with teams looking to add pieces for a playoff push. Here at Basketball
On Thursday, the NBA’s trade deadline hit all zeroes — along with plenty of fireworks — and now buyout season is right around the corner. But as franchises continue bolstering their roster ahead of the postseason (or lottery-bound future efforts), another deadline passed recently without much fanfare. Last month, the deadline to sign players to
The third-year center has gotten very little opportunity with the Los Angeles Lakers, but Ivica Zubac is a name worth learning. Ever since the Anthony Davis Doomsday Clock got so close to midnight, there’s been incessant whispering about how the Los Angeles Lakers would attempt to pry Davis away from the New Orleans Pelicans with
The Los Angeles Lakers are tenth in the West and two games out of eighth. Could a LeBron James team really miss the playoffs? The three most important games left this season for the Los Angeles Lakers are not what one would have expected going into the season. With 29 games to go in the
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
While the Reggie Bullock trade is a marginal win for both teams, the two franchises involved are looking for more than just marginal wins. The Lakers, with Anthony Davis seemingly off the table, elected to bring in a role player for the short term instead, by sending Svi Mykhailiuk with a second-round pick for Reggie
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
The Los Angeles Lakers offered most of their roster in one Anthony Davis trade proposal or another, and their squad looked less than enthused in a rout at the hands of the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Tuesday was a day of twofold bad news for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers started the day by
The Lakers have “pulled out” of any more conversations in trying to acquire New Orleans All-Star Anthony Davis because of the Pelican’s “outrageous” trade requests, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly. Magic Johnson, the Lakers president of basketball operations, told New Orleans general manager Dell Demps Tuesday