At almost the midway point of their season, the Los Angeles Lakers are just 19-20 and clinging to 10th place in the Western Conference. Despite starting out a home-heavy schedule this month, they have lost three of their last five games, all of which have taken place at Crypto.com Arena.
What makes their struggles confounding is the fact that LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been playing excellent ball for just about the entire season so far. Additionally, they rank in the top 10 in field-goal percentage, assists, free throw attempts, points in the paint and fast-break points per game.
So why is L.A. just 19th in points per game and 23rd in offensive rating? Quite simply, the team is awful at hitting 3-pointers, and it goes beyond the fact that it is 22nd in 3-point shooting percentage.