LOS ANGELES,– The Lakers When asked what the vibe in the locker room was ile Austin Reaves did not want to call it by name the Lakers worst loss of the season, he did call the vibe in the locker room “sh—y.” If you put the puzzle pieces together it adds up to what many would call the lowest point of the season as the Lakers shot 4-for-30 from three-point and ended with 21 turnovers.
LeBron James left the locker room immediately after the game without speaking to media, which is not customary for the 39-year-old veteran. Darvin Ham, usually kicks off the Lakers post game media availability, waltzed in after 30 minutes and two players had already spoken.
Ham has experimented with three different starting lineups in the past three games and none of them were the starting lineup that led the Lakers to a Western Conference Finals appearance just a year ago. When he was asked about trying out that starting lineup during Wednesday night’s press conference, he said, “I think everything is on the table that makes sense. No stone shall go unturned.”
On Thursday morning following the debacle, a report from The Athletics’ Jovan Buha and Shams Charnia came out that cited six anonymous sources about the “disjointedness” between the players and coach Ham.
As the article pointed out, the Lakers during the offseason boasted how the continuity of the team resigning some of the core pieces of last year’s WCF team in D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura were pivotal for the team’s success this season. The season started off as imagined, with the pinnacle coming from winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament at the beginning of December. Since that point, the Lakers have gone 3-for-9 in their past 12 games.
This team is also frustrating because Anthony Davis has been playing some of the best basketball of his career.
The Lakers are now below .500 for the first time since Nov. 11 with a record of 17-18 on the season. Although the Lakers will spend the majority of January at home, their next two opponents are both competitive in the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the hallway showdown vs. the Clippers.
