Dear Steemians!
Here we are, 18 games from the 2018-2019 Playoffs and the Lakers are sitting at 30-34. Their Playoff aspirations are looking bleak as they are on a three game losing streak after their loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. You may remember that they were sitting at 20-14 prior to their Superstar LeBron James injured himself by pulled his groin and sat out for nearly 6 weeks. During that time, there was also an extremely key moment before the trade deadline that effected this team in a negative manner.
The Anthony Davis trade rumours came out, consequently leading to leaks about the offers the Lakers had made to the Pelicans for their Superstar. Magic Johnson (President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers) made a number of offers for Davis, the most notable one being Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Rojon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and two first-round picks for Davis and Hill (Reported by Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times). The Lakers showed their willingness to trade nearly all of their best young talents to acquire a Superstar to play alongside LeBron James. Although the trade offer is understandable for the extremely talented Davis, these rumours clearly affected the team chemistry as the younger players on the team were unable to handle the emotions.
In all honesty, the Lakers management could have done a much better job handling the trade situation. Mainly, they should have made sure that there were no leaks on the players they were offering for Anthony Davis. This negatively impacted those names by causing uncertainty and possibly feeling like they were not wanted on the team any longer.
As it stands there is still an extremely slim chance that the Lakers make the playoffs, so we must wait and see. But if they do not, this will be one of the most disappointing seasons for LeBron James, as it would be his first time since 2006 that he would be out of the playoffs. Either way, the 2019 offseason will be very important for this team, as they will continue their hunt for players that could help James bring home a championship.
Thank you for reading!!!! My first blog :) Let me know what you thought about it please!! Any feedback is appreciated.