Lakers Miss Play-In Tournament

The Los Angeles Lakers have officially been eliminated from playoff contention.

Their loss to the Phoenix Suns Tuesday ended their postseason hopes. The Lakers failed to make the NBA’s Play-In Tournament in the midst of a seven-game losing streak.

However, the team plans to finish this season strong. Head coach Frank Vogel said before player and staff meetings occur, the team will try to maintain its integrity in the final three games.

Disappointed describes the morale within the locker room. Power forward Anthony Davis said the team planned to win a championship this season.

L.A. made moves to achieve that goal last offseason. They traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrel to the Washington Wizards for Russell Westbrook. The Lakers added forward Carmelo Anthony and center Dwight Howard among other players through free agency.

Guards Alex Caruso and Dennis Schröder left for other teams.

Laker Lineups

The team struggled to find consistency as players were in and out of the lineup.  The team has had more starting lineups than games won this season.

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Davis explained that the inconsistency in lineups hurt the team.

Davis has played about half of the teams’ games.

With a record of 31-48, this is not the same team that won an NBA Championship two years ago. LeBron James is still at the top of his game. The King is second in the league in scoring. He leads the team in points, rebounds steals and blocks. However, he has only played 56 games.

Looking Ahead

The full team will be at home when the postseason starts. One player who wants to see what the team is capable of is Westbrook. The guard said he is interested in returning to the Lakers next season.

Westbrook has a player option for the 2022-23 season. He received a lot of heat for the Lakers’ struggles this season. The scapegoat is averaging 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists through 78 games.