Lakers offseason preview: What to do with Russell Westbrook, LeBron's extension and more
The 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers season is effectively over.
A lot will be said about the decision-making from leadership over the next month or so with plenty of finger-pointing to go around. The media blitz could be reminiscent of the reporting about the Lakers following the 2018-19 season, except there likely won’t be a star acquisition to douse those flames.
Looking ahead, the Lakers’ path back to title contention with LeBron James and Anthony Davis anytime soon seems like a low probability scenario. For starters, both players will be three years removed from their 2019-20 championship season and have declined from being no-brainer Top 5 players since. Also, their durability has fallen off as both players have missed significant chunks of the last two seasons.
The Lakers may still have a chance as long as James and Davis are near the top of their powers, but the rest of the roster is filled with negative-to-neutral players at best. They are likely to part ways with Frank Vogel but coaching is the least of their problems. With such limited assets and spending power, it’s hard to see how they significantly retool the roster in the offseason.