Los Angeles Lakers: “Is durability going to be a long-term problem for this team?”
Coming into the year, all the hype in the Western Conference surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. With LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and other former All-Star players and veterans, the Lakers looked like a powerhouse on paper, but they have not lived up to the hype so far.
Since starting the year 2-3, the Lakers have gone 6-5, but their past two wins have come in overtime and they are dealing with a lot of injuries right now. As a result of key guys being out of the rotation, this team is struggling to build chemistry amongst their stars.
Talen Horton-Tucker recently returned to the lineup and has made a major impact but Kendrick Nunn and Trevor Ariza have yet to make their season-debuts this year due to injuries, and LeBron James is currently sidelined due to an abdominal injury. While he has not missed a game this season, Anthony Davis is also dealing with a handful of injuries early on in the year and has currently been agitated by a thumb injury.
The one thing that could derail things for the Lakers this season are injuries and so far, the injury bug has not gone away. The biggest concern for this team is their durability, especially since they are the oldest team we have seen in the NBA in quite some time.
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With an average age of about 30.6-years-old, the Lakers are by far the oldest team in the league and while they have years of experience that separate them from younger teams come playoff time, almost this entire roster has plenty of mileage on their legs.
You have to be able to make it to the playoffs first before you can be a playoff threat and while there are not many concerns that this team will ultimately make the playoffs, they could find themselves in a similar situation to last season.
Finishing 42-30 last year due to both LeBron James and Anthony Davis missing time, the Lakers had to earn their spot in the playoffs via the play-in tournament and they lost in the first-round to Chirs Paul, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns.
If this team is to contend for a title this year, they must be a Top-4 seed in the Western Conference, but if they are not healthy, this is not going to be possible. The Warriors, Jazz, Suns, Nuggets, Clippers and even the Mavericks have all looked like strong teams in the Western Conference this year, making there little room for error in Los Angeles.
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LeBron James’ abdominal injury is a real question mark right now and if he continues to miss time, this will just be delaying their core from being able to build chemistry with one another on the floor. All the time, we talk about new teams facing a “learning curve” in terms of having to gel together and while mostly all of these guys have been in the league for years and on multiple All-Star teams together, they still need time to become the best versions of themselves.
Time is the biggest factor for this Lakers franchise right now and “Father Time” may finally be catching up with a few of them. Durability is the biggest concern for the Los Angeles Lakers right now and if they are not fully healthy by the All-Star break, it will be very hard for them to make a real run to the NBA Finals.
