The 2022/23 NBA season tipped off and is in full swing - but Los Angeles Lakers fans are likely already looking forward to its conclusion.
The Lakers, who missed the playoffs last season, have already lost their opening three matches. They may be forgiven for falling to last year’s champions, the Golden State Warriors, as well as the ultra-competitive LA Clippers but a defeat to a rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers team felt like a genuine blow.
The franchise - which is tied with Boston Celtics for the most NBA championships with 17 - lost to the Trail Blazers, who surprisingly find themselves at 3-0 to open the campaign. James scored 31 points to go with 8 rebounds and 8 assists, but superstar guard Damian Lillard showcased what the Lakers are truly missing en route to his 41-point outing: shooting.
The Lakers’ shooting difficulties have been highlighted by many as the team’s glaring weakness for some time, and it has been truly awful to start the campaign. LA shot 6-for-33 from three-point range on Sunday, while their struggles were more apparent against the Clippers: Russell Westbrook shot 0-for-11 from the floor to go with Patrick Beverley’s 1-for-7 and Kendrick Nunn’s 0-for-7.
The Blazers knew they could rely upon the Lakers to waywardly shoot from beyond the arc. They repeatedly gave their stars the time and space to shoot from distance but were confident their opponents would miss, as Anthony Davis and Westbrook proved.
The loss means the Lakers are 0-3 for only the second time since James’ arrival prior to the 2018/19 season. Perhaps they will turn to long-time target Kyrie Irving for inspiration after the guard impressed for the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night following an explosive season debut.
The Nets may have had a more chaotic offseason than the Lakers. Kevin Durant’s trade request threatened to derail their long-term plans while Irving opted into his £31.3million contract.
Irving has been linked with a move to the Lakers for a number of seasons, and calls for a move via trade - rather than in free agency - have increased amid LA’s difficulties with former MVP Westbrook. Irving would certainly supply the shooting ability the Lakers crave; he consistently finds himself shooting around 50% from the floor while generally wavering around the 40% mark from three across his career.
The 30-year-old - a seven-time NBA All-Star - also dropped 30 points in the win over the Toronto Raptors at the weekend after the Nets’ season got off to the worst possible start. Brooklyn self-destructed in a heavy home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, with Irving shooting 0-for-6 from three and sarcastically applauding as he walked off the court while Ben Simmons was ejected in his first outing in over a year.
Ideally, the man the Lakers would love to turn to in this situation is the player living up the coast in San Francisco: Steph Curry. Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA history, hitting more threes than any player to have stepped into the league.
The Warriors opened their season with a win over the Lakers but suffered a defeat to the Denver Nuggets. However, Curry led them back to winning ways against the Sacramento Kings with 33 points on 50% shooting from the field, including 7-of-12 from deep.
His shooting performance once again made history: the 130-125 win over the Kings was Curry’s 100th career regular season game with 30 or more points - and seven or more three-pointers made. He has a comfortable hold on the record too, as Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden is next with just 42 such outings to his name.
Elsewhere, the 76ers - armed with Harden and Joel Embiid - are another high-profile team struggling in the early stages, although they fell to two Eastern superpowers in the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid failed to score a single point in the second half of the loss to the Bucks, although he responded with 40 points in the defeat to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Utah Jazz, who traded away superstar duo Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, were set to tank their season in order to secure a high draft pick to try and select French prodigy Victor Wenbanyama - but they find themselves remarkably top of the Western Conference at 3-0. The Phoenix Suns are in the mix at 2-1 after defeating the Clippers on Sunday, which hit headlines as Chris Paul became just the third player in NBA history to reach 11,000 assists.
