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LA Lakers to continue being subpar team, analyst believes

Speaking on ESPN’s “First Take” today, NBA analyst Timothy Legler expressed the belief that the Los Angeles Lakers would continue being a subpar team, judging from their inconsistent plays and rather disappointing 2021-2022 season, adding that Anthony Davis would not save the team.

Davis and the Lakers have been the talk of the town as of late. Fans have been criticizing the team 24/ non-stop due to this season’s fairly poor displays. The Lakers are falling down, almost out of their place as a top team in the Western Conference standings.

The team has simply disappointed the basketball world after a seemingly promising offseason that was flooded with headlines. One of the most often heard opinions is that they struggle to defend themselves from the opponents’ attacks. Their veterans have also been struggling this season, showing mediocre performances at best, including the offseason acquisition of Russell Westbrook.

On Anthony Davis and the Lakers

“I think the Lakers are done with Anthony Davis. They’re cooked,” said Legler.

Throughout the show, the analyst went on to criticize the Lakers, saying that they simply have been one of the least impressive teams in the NBA this year, especially when it comes to their play on the defensive side of the ball. Furthermore, it has been announced that Davis will be out for the next four weeks due to an injury he suffered in his knee.

Davis injured his MCL during last Friday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was not the first time for him to get injured as he is a frequent sideliner due to similar reasons. However this time, the timing has been the worst for the Lakers.

With an upcoming horde of currently well-performing opponents, they are going to play without one of their best players. It is certain that climbing back up the ranks in the NBA Western Conference will be even more difficult.

Davis has played fairly well this season compared to his teammates. So far this year, he has averaged 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 52.1 percent from the field. The Lakers surely need him if they wish to fix their reputation. The team is currently seventh in the NBA Western Conference standings and they need to find a way to stop them from sliding further down the ranks.

The only hope

Currently, the Lakers’ almost only hope to do so without Davis is to overwork LeBron James. The team is not the only one currently facing massive disruption and upheaval of great magnitude, especially with the seemingly never-ending wave of COVID-19 infections but they get to be careful not to feel all comfortable with the situation.

“You just adapt,” assistant coach David Fizdale told reporters on Sunday. “You don’t get into the whining and moaning and moaning. It’s like that. This is our world right now.”

The team’s next best option is to put all of their hopes in Trevor Aiza, who was finally cleared to play and make his 2021-22 debut. Fizdale insisted that he would be of great help to the team in their bid to reclaim the throne.

“One was just getting him back on the court,” Fizdale said after the game against the Dallas Mavericks. “Just sweating, hitting, cutting, all of the good stuff. For him to see the ball go in was huge. He’s gonna add a ton of versatility to our team as he gets stronger and gets his conditioning up.

“But I thought he added a nice little element. It was nice to be able to say with 2:30 to go ‘Trev, get in there for defense!’ That’s gonna be a nice knife in the shed for Coach to be able to go to Trev for late-game situations and be able to switch stuff and put him on different people and have a scoring ability.”