The Los Angeles Lakers are arguably the NBA’s most storied franchise by virtue of their 17 world championships. They’ve been so successful over the decades that even when they haven’t won it all, they have had some impressive squads that were memorable, not to mention talented, star-studded and very competitive.
This past season, the Lakers started out with a roster that many felt would miss the playoffs for the second straight season. But in what seemed like a miracle, they turned things around and made a deep playoff run that was like a breath of fresh air.
Buy Lakers TicketsThat run has also led to high hopes for the 2023-24 campaign.
From the basement to the elite ranks
Although L.A.’s roster to start the 2021-22 season looked somewhat better than the squad it had the previous season, it was still unbalanced and incomplete. It had a lack of reliable forwards other than LeBron James, not to mention a glut of small guards that weren’t great defenders, save for perhaps Patrick Beverley.
The Lakers started the schedule by losing each of their first five games and 10 of their first 12, as they seemingly couldn’t throw a pea in the ocean from 3-point range. They started to gather some real momentum from mid-November to early December, only to lose Anthony Davis to a right foot stress injury on Dec. 16 that kept him out until late January.
LeBron James did an excellent job of carrying the team in Davis’ absence, but his feet started hurting greatly as a result of him playing heavy minutes. When he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 7, it looked like it would be an empty honor. The Lakers lost that contest to the Oklahoma City Thunder, dropping their record to 25-30 and decreasing their playoff chances even more.
The very next day, they shipped off Russell Westbrook in a package deal for D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt. That trade came on the heels of one that landed forward Rui Hachimura in late January.
Suddenly, the Lakers had a deep, balanced and cohesive roster. They won 18 of their last 26 regular season contests on the strength of a defense that was suddenly one of the league’s best, and they rode their magic carpet all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they got swept by a Denver Nuggets team that had been together longer.
Season stats
Record: 43-39, seventh in the Western Conference
Scoring: 117.2 points per game, sixth in the NBA
Offensive rating: 113.9, 19th in the NBA
Defensive rating: 113.2, 12th in the NBA
