Lakers: The Universal Rival
How can a team be stacked with league superstars, be the 2020 champions, be the perfect example of juggernauts, yet have around an 8 percent chance of even making the playoffs? This question is asked by anyone who has watched the Los Angeles Lakers over the past two seasons.
The Lakers are notorious for being the villain– the team everyone wants to hate. That was their niche, their role in the league. Granted, every team has its rivals. For example, the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns, and the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Yet despite an individual team’s rival, the Lakers are a universal rival; every team wants to beat them. Former Los Angeles Laker Wilt Chamberlain even said, “nobody roots for Goliath.”
The Lakers went from the Kobe Bryant era to the Lebron James era, then added Anthony Davis and immediately won a title. Everything seems to fall right into their Laker hands. Although, the 2021-2022 Lakers and (seemingly) the 2022-2023 Lakers are not the big villain anymore, as they could not even make it past play-ins last season. This team is being described as a disgrace by their fandom. This team was formed to win, so why can they not? Frankly, there are many issues with this team, but there are a few notable ones.
The biggest issue this team faces is chemistry; this team seems to fail to get along. Contrary to this and must be noted is the team’s improved chemistry since their recent winning streak. Yet fundamental chemistry issues still remain; the greatest example of this being Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverly. It is questionable if trading for Beverly was a good idea in the offseason with respect to Westbrook. This is because of their not so secreted hatred for each other. This hatred has lasted the majority of their careers.
In the 2013 playoffs, Westbrook dribbled the ball to his bench sideline in order to call a timeout. As that was happening, Beverly made a diving “steal for the ball” or a diving hit for Westbrook’s knees. Westbrook ended up tearing his meniscus after that, and with that, ended the Oklahoma City Thunder’s playoff run that year.
Not much has changed since 2013, as the last heard of the hatred was trash talk exchanged both ways. On a brighter side, Westbrook and Beverly have been encouraging each other on social media since becoming teammates. Although they are competing for the same position, a position that needed Beverly since Westbrook has failed to put the stats needed.
These are two infamously known petty players being asked to subside their, just about, whole career worth of hatred for a coach that is new since ex-coach Frank Vogel was fired. Great rivalries have been squashed in the past, and these two can coexist, succeeding where the other fails; for example, Beverly's defense.
The issue that most try to say politely is, to put it bluntly, Russell Westbrook needs to change his game, retire, or, by miracle, the Lakers need to find a team willing to trade for him. Russell Westbrook, in his prime, was undisputedly a great player. The times of Westbrook and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City were beautiful. Although, times have changed.
Westbrook has not been good on the Lakers, and that is undisputed. His horrible playing has been bad enough to influence the whole team into playing badly. His defense is horrible as well. On a rare occasion, though, he may acknowledge that there is another side to the court. His shooting is so bad that it is unclear if he knows where the rim exists. Other teams won’t even guard him from outside of about 9 feet from the basket, and they are not even worried about leaving him open. He cannot seem to acknowledge his current game is not matching up to the expectations that are set for him.