Just about every website, TV talking head, sports talk radio host and basketball fan wants to prattle on about how the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers were a massive disappointment. The feign shock of LeBron James and company missing the postseason is all a bit much.
Actually, that is a total understatement. Anyone with a heartbeat saw how poorly constructed the Lakers were before a single game was played and then watched them play subpar basketball throughout the season. The only surprise here is people pretending to be surprised by Los Angeles failing to qualify for the playoffs.
On January 5th, we pointed out the team around James and Anthony Davis was the basketball equivalent of a turd sandwich. And that was when sportsbooks still had the Lakers among the favorites to win the title despite their 20-19 record.
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The 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers aren’t a massive disappointment…they were always bad
You will struggle to find anyone outside of the Lakers organization who thought adding Russell Westbrook was a good idea or even worth considering. Go back and check the tapes. Alright, so tapes don’t exist anymore. But YouTube is littered with videos from experts explaining what a terrible move this was.
And that was before the season started. Los Angeles was never more than three games above .500 throughout the campaign. They played the Houston Rockets twice at home early on and looked well short of talent, ideas and ability.
The 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers aren’t a massive disappointment because this team was always bad. There was nothing shocking about their failure. It is disingenuous for anyone to claim the opposite.
In order for an NBA team to be disappointing, there must be a high ceiling. At no point during this season did the Lakers look like title contenders. Nor did they look good last season. Hell, on their best day, this was a play-in side. All those hot take merchants can stop pretending otherwise.
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