One hall of famer, one all star, and one player is considered to be the greatest of all time. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have been doing terribly in the 2020-21 and 2022-23 season. Being at the bottom of the west, winning only two games out of the nine they have played, making them ranked 28th in the entire NBA. 

The reason? 

A mix of bad coaching, bad trades, and poorly performing players. Some would say, veteran player Russel Westbrook is most to blame for this. While he is taking most of the blame, what fans fail to see is that Lakers’ center, Anthony Davis, is probably the most to blame for this team’s downfall. According to Ricky O’ Donnnell, a sports reporter from sbnation.com, he states that “The biggest individual reason for the Lakers’ downturn this season isn’t Westbrook or Vogel. It’s Anthony Davis’ inability to stay healthy and maintain his status as one of the best players in the world.” Anthony Davis missed half of the 2021-22 season due to injury and has already missed a number of games in the 2022-23 season, for the same reason. The Lakers without their all-star center struggle on the defensive end, being placed 27th in defensive rating on NBA.com. 

So with all these star players, there has to be at least something good about the team on the offensive end right? 

Not exactly.

 According to Matt Killian, a sports report for bcgavel.com, he said, “Offensively, the Lakers haven’t been as good as they could be considering the number of scoring threats they have. The numbers haven’t exactly wowed either. Los Angeles currently sits ninth in the league in points per game with 109.3.” This could surprise many because Lebron James has the second highest points in league history with numerous MVP awards and is on pace to become number one. The same goes for Russel Westbrook, the all time leader in triple doubles struggles, getting the ball in the hoop with a measly 0.343 shooting percentage. Both of these players also have career average points exceeding 22 points per game. 

Moving on, how could the Lakers possibly recover from this horrible record to start off the season? Four-time all star, Kemba Walker, would be a perfect fit this year and could be one of the answers to that question even though he is past his prime. According to fadeawayworld.net, “Walker is nailing a career-high 41.3% of his threes this season, a very high number compared to what the Lakers guards are putting up.” 

Another player the Lakers should be interested in is Kevin Love, another veteran that shines come playoff time and also has a great connection with Lebron James. According to the same source, Kevin Love shoots “35.9%” from deep and will be ”one of the best floor spacers the Lakers will have.” 33 years old, Kevin Love also has a lot of finals experience. He would be a fantastic backup forward or even center, giving the Lakers more depth to their roster. Hopefully, this superteam can meet the expectations and be great, and possibly even win in the finals. It is definitely possible considering how much raw talent they have on that team but, they just need to make a few adjustments.