thelesterlee
All my life, I have been waterboarded with Los Angeles Lakers propaganda. I’m constantly told Kobe Bryant is one of the top 5 greatest basketball players ever despite never being the best basketball player in the NBA when he played.
As I write this, the Lakers are currently 9th in the West thanks in large part to the Thunder lowkey tanking by resting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander random nights, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram having bodies composed primarily of paper mache and the Utah Jazz are building this weird old school Indiana Hoosiers all-white team, like, a lottttt of Kelly Olynyk minutes in 2023.
So yes, the Lakers will make the play-in game. They might even get homecourt advantage for the play-in considering Luka and Kyrie joined forces to donate wins across the NBA. They are the Mr. Beast’s of the league allowing every team they face to leave with a W. True philanthropists. How could you hate Kyrie? He gives and he gives. Especially when he’s the on-ball defender and his opponent wants to get to the rim.
But this past week, something strange has happened. There seems to be some overwhelming belief that the Los Angeles Lakers will simply glide through the playoffs. And I understand LeBron James is LeBron James and there are about two decades of sample size indicating that once the postseason begins, LeBron’s game is going to jump up to legendary status.
LeBron is almost 40 years old and he’s currently nursing a foot injury. It’s insane to assume this elderly man will suddenly return from a foot injury and play at a Hall of Fame level with Dennis Schroder and Troy Brown on his back.
The Lakers made great moves around the trade deadline. Acquiring Rui Hachimura, Malik Beasley, D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt made this team exponentially better than when Russell Westbrook was out there bricking 3’s and smiling ear-to-ear in the locker room following losses like a sociopath.
Rui and Vanderbilt give them much-needed frontcourt depth and more shotmaking. D’Angelo Russell provides essential perimeter scoring, especially late in games when the game comes to a crawl and you need to get a bucket in the halfcourt. And Malik Beasley gets to reunite with his stepson, Scottie Pippen Jr.
But I refuse to, even for a second, pretend as if this Lakers team is going to make it past the play-in game let alone with the fucking Western Conference and make the NBA Finals. Enough.
And I totally get it. I sit here and have to come up with interesting content to create for views and clicks and blah blah. I understand, especially at this part of the season, how hard it is to develop a new idea or concept.
And we also understand that mentioning the Lakers gets you a boost of new eyes. This entire article is meant to shit on the Lakers and I’ll still get a flood of views from Lakers fans.
But we don’t need to try and convince ourselves into believing they are a threat in the playoffs. Anthony Davis is one sneeze away from tearing his ACL. It’s bold as hell to assume that Anthony Davis will remain healthy for a month straight when the game gets even more physical and intense.
Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard still exist and they are both hitting their strides at the perfect time. The Phoenix Suns have KEVIN DURANT. The Sacramento Kings have the no. 1 offense in the NBA. Ja Morant might be even better when he comes back sober. Can you imagine how much higher he’ll jump without a pistol in his pocket? And yea, the Nuggets have a guy who’s about to win his third straight MVP.
Get the Lakers ALLLLLL the way out of here. It wouldn’t shock me at all if Anthony Edwards waved the Lakers off the court as they take the 8th seed and knock Los Angeles out of the playoffs.
Thanks for reading. Go ahead and sign up for the D, the daily Deadseriousness newsletter sent directly to your inbox every AM.
RECOMMENDED:
Russell Westbrook Can No Longer Play in the NBA
By Trading For Rui Hachimura, the Lakers Finally Have an NBA Player
The Lakers are Choosing Between DeMarcus Cousins and a Nazi
