At times this season, the Los Angeles Lakers have shown they clearly have the potential to be a very good, if not a great, team. They won the in-season tournament with relative ease, and even when Kevin Durant’s Phoenix Suns challenged them, they prevailed.
But there have also been plenty of dismal and even embarrassing lows that have been a reminder that the Lakers, at least right now, aren’t championship contenders.
One factor in their inability to maintain positive momentum has been injuries. It has seemed every time they have gained one or two players back from injuries, one or two more go down with new ailments.
On Friday, soon after they welcomed back Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt and days ahead of Gabe Vincent’s potential return, they were without Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Cam Reddish versus the San Antonio Spurs. The result was a 129-115 loss to a Spurs team that came in with an 18-game losing streak and the worst record in the Western Conference.
Afterward, LeBron James still sounded confident that when healthy, his team is very potent.
LeBron James speaks on the mental toughness of playing on the road and against #1 pick Victor Wembanyama. pic.twitter.com/ucZxv8Jhkt
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 16, 2023
“We just got to get healthy,” James said when asked where his team is at considering its injuries. “When we’re healthy, we’re one of the better teams in the league. When we’re not, we’ve had some ups and downs. I’ve said it over and over — when we’re healthy and we have our group, we compete versus anybody.”
Los Angeles will have two full days off to get healthier before hosting the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.