The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in their worst slump in the last two seasons. They’ve lost six of their last seven and haven’t looked good in the process. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are back in the fold but it’s clear that they still need time to work off the rust. With the playoffs mere weeks away, the Lakers need to figure things out quickly.
The biggest concern has to be with how Davis is playing. He wasn’t playing that well before his injury and he hasn’t looked good since he returned. LeBron will figure things out but it’s hard to know how Davis will bounce back. The superstar big man got brutally honest after the recent 121-114 loss on Sunday to the Toronto Raptors
“The entire team is kind of in a slump right now, a drought. Not more so individually, but just collectively, on both ends of the ball,” Davis said. “This is the lowest we’ve been in a while … But the only way is up. We really can’t get any lower than this.”
Even when LeBron and Davis were out, the Lakers played well. They were able to hold onto that fifth seed in the Western Conference. They’ve now fallen into a three-way tie for the fifth seed but thanks to tiebreakers, the team is currently the seventh seed. If they don’t improve their standing, the Lakers will have to compete in a play-in game to actually get into the playoffs.
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Kuzma Says Lakers Aren’t Good Enough Right Now
It’s obvious that the Lakers are out of sync right now. Nobody is playing consistently and the superstars aren’t playing at a high enough level to break the team out of the slump. Last year, the Lakers were praised for their excellent chemistry. Kyle Kuzma came out and made it seem like the chemistry is an issue this year.
“I just don’t think we’re connected right now. I think we’re unhealthy and just not good enough,” Kuzma said Sunday, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We’re just not together as a whole — team, staff, everything.”
Los Angeles doesn’t have a lot of time to figure these things out. The team didn’t face a lot of adversity last season so this is the first time this group has really struggled in a long time. It’s up to LeBron and Davis to help the team work things out.
Davis Believes Lakers Need to Play With ‘More Swag’
The Lakers are the defending champions but they aren’t playing like it. Under no circumstances should they be losing to bad Kings and Raptors teams. Davis pointed out that the team is lacking swag right now.
“It’s no fun when you’re losing, but at the end of the day, we’re the champs, man. Like, we are the champs. We’re the defending champs,” Davis said. “So we got to play that way and play with a little bit more swag.”
Players like Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard brought the team a ton of swag last but they’re no longer around. The Lakers need to find their confidence again. If they can’t, it’s going to be a massively disappointing end to the season.
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Anthony Davis Puts Lakers on Blast Over Recent Slump