The Rise & Fall Of The Los Angeles Lakers

The Rise & Fall Of The Los Angeles Lakers

I think the people are surprised that they’re not going to make the playoffs they thought at least this team would make the playoffs I understand injur I understand right like in the critical part of the Season half the team’s gone what are you supposed to do with that

You know what I mean what are you supposed to do with that man so everybody’s just got to set just just settle down just settle down enjoy this time enjoy it because then when they winning championships you can look back at this time cuz it makes championships

Much sweeter right um but this is Los Angeles though man we don’t play every ba team has their ups and downs it’s inevitable over the past few years we’ve seen the Spurs going from be one of the best franchises to one of the worst or

How about the New York Knicks one of the worst to one of the best it doesn’t matter who you are it’s bound to happen you’re going to have good seasons and then you’re going to have bad ons too and I feel like at this very moment we

May be seeing one franchise change their path and that’s well the most popular franchise in the NBA the Los Angeles Lakers but to understand the current state of the Lakers we got to go to 26 17 June 2017 to be exact draft night the Lakers hold the second pick of course

They took the hometown kid Lonzo ball Lonzo ball from UCL if you followed basketball at this time you knew who Lonzo ball was he was everywhere but it wasn’t just him it was his father too the guy was pushing for him to be a Laker for a long time now

Here in Lavar you already got the Lakers hat I’m trying to tell you I knew this was happening before it was happening when did you get this hat made te when he was a baby what’s it like now that this has come to fruition for you you’ve been

Talking about it for 9 months 9 months you’re talking about 1920 years all right 1920 years had a microphone on me when I was talking about it what’s it like right now that he is an LA Lakers it’s a wonderful feeling but I already knew what was coming to him I got two

More boys I got to come do the same thing two more years so you’re going to get them to the Lakers too how the big ball away I know ready ball controled Billy is starving how good is Lonzo ball going to be for the LA Lakers

Hey I’m going tell you what Lonzo ball is going to take the Lakers to the playoffs his first year come see me when he does I have another hat on to say I told you so the Lakers in the 2017 18 season Loki had one of the most stacked

Rookie classes I could ever remember Lonzo ball Kyle kosma Josh Hart Thomas Bryant oh yeah and Andre Ingram Lakers Legend but the Lakers weren’t great this season but they were exciting they had all these young guys the future was bright but we got to look across the country to Cleveland they were coming

Off a finals lost to KD and the Golden State Warriors Kyrie was no longer there I mean look at this roster Dwayne Wade dwade on the Cavs is literally the guy we use as a picture to show that someone’s watched but besides Wade Isaiah Thomas Derrick Rose Jose

Calderone big perk I mean this roster was a m to say the very least and now that the Golden State Warriors have the greatest rer of all time this C team had no chance upon being realistic so all season long the question was is LeBron

Going to stay in Cleveland or is he out this summer and of course if you follow basketball you know that anytime there’s an upcoming free agent they’re automatically linked to the Lakers it’s Clockwork and the biggest free agent since 2010 when well LeBron was last of ree agent was being linked to the

Biggest franchise in the NBA I mean everyone heard these rumors including the players on the Lakers roster was that something that you were conscious of you know just that that conversation uh about who’s coming to the Lakers or these young guys making this an attractive location is was that

Something that you thought about during the season um I mean yes and no I guess I mean who would want to you know play in LA I mean you know sunshine it’s women here it’s you know great basketball um you know it’s it’s so much

You can do here so you know why not you know come here the Lakers would end up finishing 35 and 47 That season they’d missed the playoffs the 11th seed but that season was just a building season or a hype season cuz in July 1st 2018 LeBron would Chang the landscape of the

Entire NBA because of my background obviously when magic and I started this thing we said the most important thing was excellence in the relationships we have with players and their teams so real talk like if you ever experience anything or your team does that’s not done at an excellent level we need to

Hear about it okay so I just want to set those expectations out of the appreciate that absolutely was funny cuz when Co tweeted out like good work Genie good work magic good work RP everyone thought he was tweeting was hilarious he took my ther man so the Lakers know of LeBron James

But that wasn’t their only move this off season first they signed ran Rondo you’ll see how important that is down the road but then they also signed two really other important veterans kavus Carwell Pope trading in his winter coat for sunglasses signed for one year $18 million with the Lakers definitely the

People upstairs put the team together well and got a a a good conglomerate of great players they added jel mgee and casy P and they resigned rookie Alex Caruso onto a two-way contract and although these two moves don’t really matter it’s just kind of interesting how

They would have played out in the long run if they didn’t do them they traded Zu and Michael Beasley for Mike muscala yikes they definitely regret that and also they LED Julius Randall walk to New Orleans for 2 years 18 million and of course we know in hindsight Randle will

Become a three-time All-Star and two-time all NBA player at the moment in this current time and yeah those moves don’t really matter but I just wanted to throw them in there but it’s now the 201819 season here’s what the Lakers roster looking like the most common starting lineup was Lonzo ball at the

One Ingram at the two LeBron at the three kzz at the four javil McGee at the five and then they’ have Josh Hart kcp Ron Rondo Lance Stevenson and a bunch of other randoms come off the bench but there’s one word to describe this Lakers season injuries LeBron missed 27 games

Ingram 30 Lonzo 35 Rondo 36 I mean of course they’d end up missing the Playoffs the 10th seed this year so they were getting better I guess not really but there’s nothing crazier and I mean nothing than LeBron missing the playoffs this year if you were 20 years old for

This season the last time LeBron wasn’t even in the finals not even the playoffs the last time he wasn’t in the finals you were 11 and LeBron wasn’t in the playoffs it was confusing I mean what were the Lakers going to do with this roster you have LeBron James you need to

Win what do the Lakers need to do to get better for next year well just continue to work right they have individual players like whatever the direction they decide to go right whether it’s a big time free agent whether it’s a trade with the young pieces that they have

Whatever the case may be if they decide to keep the young Talent is get in the gym and put the work in right figure out how individually you can become better basketball players um figure out how you can use each other um um to be more efficient out there in a basketball

Court at both ends of the floor right and uh it’s the same process every year I think it’s time we’re now in the rise portion right after that season ended the Lakers fired Luke Walton and hired a handpick coach from LeBron Frank vogle multiple Conference Finals with the

Pacers turn Nico lavich into an All-Star in Orlando I mean it was a little confusing but it’s who LeBron wanted so that’s who they were going to hire but it was July 15th that truly changed the trajectory of the Lakers franchise the Pelicans have agreed to finally trade

Anthony Davis to the Lakers so the Lakers now LeBron James Anthony Davis they traded Lonzo ball Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart a bul of their young guys the only ones remaining were Kyle kma and Alex Caruso but the one word to truly describe this off season veterans breaking news Dwight Howard’s going to

Get one with the Lakers wad reporting that a buyou with Memphis has been completed it’s going to be back in purple and gold once again Avery uh everyone in Laker land excited to have you six years in Boston you’re now on the other side of I would just like to

Announce and proudly let everyone know I’m excited for the next two years that I will be teaming up my new teammates in La the Los Angeles Lakers the Lakers decided to completely shift from the young guys and make a title run right now bring in experience bring in some

Dogs and go for a title run the roster looks something like this give or take they used about a thousand different starting lineups this season but they started Avery Bradley and Danny Green in the backourt so not a true point guard cuz they Ed LeBron at the one and then

They had davidon McGee fill in the front Court coming off the bench say Kyle kosma kcpu would start sometimes either him or Avery Bradley but then Rondo and Dwight Howard and Alex Caruso filled in the rest of the bench I think stacked is an understatement for this roster I mean

They clinched the playoffs on March 6th but then 5 days later the NBA season shut down of course we all know this season would end up finishing at the giant golf ball at fcot and whoever won was going to take home the sole Mickey Mouse ring in NBA history but for real

The Lakers were great they finished 52 and 19 the one seed in the Western Conference that landed them a matchup with the Portland Trailblazers in the first round but an important player was injured for the Lakers in this series Rajan Rondo and remember how I said the Rondo signing becomes important we’ll

Watch this that whole team they went into the bubble with the mindset of what are we here for I had always said the team with the the toughest mental fortitude is going to win in the bubble that’s what it was all about and so they

They were all on that page and Rondo man specifically he was locked in yeah like when Ronda broke his hand and he missed like I don’t know the first 3 4 weeks of the bubble he was in our coaches meetings on Zoom he was just man how can I how can I

Still have an impact what way can I help the team and and be you know I want to learn what you guys are doing and his voice his basketball Acumen his IQ was really important to help in the mental side of of what we did it was just

Really and those dudes understood that they were there for one reason one reason only and that was to try to win a championship so besides Rondo being out for the first few games Avery Bradley opted not to go to the bubble because of his son who was sick they ran with the

Lineup of kcp Danny Green LeBron ad and either one of ja mcgear dway Howard for the playoffs and honestly they were rolling 4-1 against the Blazers in the first round 4-1 against the rockets in the second 4-1 against the nuggets in the Conference Finals which included

This shot he puts it in here’s Davis 43 in the win oh it’s gone Anthony Davis has won it for the Lakers so the Lakers found themselves in the NBA finals for the first time since Kobe was on the team LeBron James versus former team the

Miami Heat game one a blowout the Lakers took it easily game two 10-point win Lakers up 2 but Jimmy Butler wasn’t going out without a fight game three he put up 40 points 11 rebounds and 13 assists to bring the series a little closer to 2-1 now but then LeBron showed

Up the next game 28 and 12 to go up 3-1 game five even though LeBron went for 4013 and seven Jimmy Butler went for another triple double 352 and 11 the heat now found themselves only down one game 3-2 heading into game six but LeBron wasn’t losing 28 14- 10 in game

Six once again the Los Angeles Lakers were your NBA champions and that’s it it’s over this historic 2020 NBA championship belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers the Lakers were on top of the world at this point but there was a problem basically the whole team was headed into free agency and the way

These guys performed in the playoffs it was going to be hard to bring them all back they were going to get paid and that’s what happens and really this is the start of maybe not the complete fall of the Lakers but this is the start of the slow fall here’s what happened Rondo

Got a bag from the Hawks Aver Bradley from the heat Dwight Howard went to the Sixers for basically nothing the Lakers definitely could have figured something out to bring him back but they did bring back kyp kozma LeBron and AD they figured letting the older guys walk

Wouldn’t hurt as much as letting a guy like kozma walk but this is now the 2021 season we’re looking at and like two seasons ago the story of this season injuries LeBron plays 45 games Anthony Davis plays 36 and it’s hard to be good when your best players can’t play but

There is one good thing we got from this season in the playing versus the Warriors LeBron hit this ridiculous shot green throws it back up top James puts up the three oh it’s goodone LeBron James from downtown so the Lakers were the seven seed and this gave him a match

Up with the two seed Phoenix Suns honestly the Lakers didn’t play good they lost 4 to2 in this series the Lakers had three players average double digit points in this series LeBron with 23 Anthony Davis with only 17 and then Dennis rer with 14 that is just not a

Recipe for Success so of course they had to figure something out different right how about this it’s been reported that the guy who averaged a triple double in his fourth time in five seasons is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook it

Was a ridiculous five team trade that looked like some might try and cook up in my league but in the nutshell the Lakers got Russell Westbrook they traded Kyle kma kcp and Montres Harold I mean Russ is a former MVP how can this go wrong Westbrook going about IT Crowd

Kind of telling him no and he that’s how badly this went Laker fans yelled for Russell Westbrook not to shoot the ball when he got it but besides Russ this off season they brought in a 78-year-old carelo Anthony brought the white Howard back once again but they also did sign

Malik monk who would actually end up being their third best player but oh yeah they let Alex Caruso straight up walk so going into it I really didn’t know what to expect um and I really didn’t hear much from any team including the Lakers leading up

To 6:00 pm Central when I was when I was at my parents house um and then they they called and and Lakers made their offer and wasn’t an offer I was going to accept because I was going to be able to you know get more money considerable more money from another team and

Although I will give the Lakers credit for signing auson Reeves after he went undrafted the rest of this free agency does disaster class and it showed the season LeBron only got to play 56 games but he averaged 30.3 points when he did ad only played 40 so that left them with

Russell Westbrook now don’t take this the wrong way Westbrook is undoubtedly one of my favorite players ever but he was straight up bad this season the stats look nice 187 and seven until you look at the shooting splits 44% from the field 30 from Deep 66 from the line a

47% effective field goal percentage although it was terrible for the L Lakers they did find one good thing they signed a 23-year-old Malik monk for basically nothing 14 points per game out 4739 splits maybe they had something there but really it didn’t matter what they had with monk they sucked again and

Once again missed the playoffs so it was evident that things needed to change so that offseason they fired Frank vogle and hired everyone’s favorite coach nowadays Darvin ham oh yeah and then they let Malik monk walk he left to go join his college teammate Darren fox in

Sacramento but for the Lakers they had one major problem holding them back and I hate to say this so much cuz I grew up on Russell Westbrook and he’s always been one of my favorite players but Westbrook on the floor caused a lot of empty plays and honestly they were

Better when he wasn’t on the floor so the Laker that holds to fill and they made two major trades in about a span of two weeks in the beginning of 2023 first they traded Kendrick nun and picks for rui hashimura and after that well this uh that reunites D’Angelo Russell in the

Los Angeles Lakers and sends out Russell Westbrook in a three- team trade they received D’Angelo Russell Jared vanderbelt and Malik Beasley for Westbrook and picks and at this point the Lakers liked what they had they really just had to make the playoffs to make noise and they did they snuck in at

The seventh seed their lineup at this point Russell Reeves LeBron Vando and Anthony Davis Off the Bench they had Dennis rer Ru hashimura and a small dosage of Beasley and Troy Brown sometimes I mean this lineup was good good enough for they beat Grizzlies is in six in the first round the Warriors

In six in the second but ultimately they’d get swept by the nuggets in the Conference Finals and that brings us to today the 2324 season essentially the same roster some additions like Christian Wood and Gabe Vincent who were both always injured but right now the Lakers aren’t great they’re currently

The ninth seed ad is having a monster season LeBron’s still LeBron for the most part the Andel Russell’s on a heater right now Reeves has his up and downs but a lot of UPS recently but after the four of them and sometimes RI hashimura the Lakers don’t have much so

It’s going to be interesting to see how the season plays out for them could they make another playoff run like last season or is this going to be a quick elimination like the season they played Phoenix or will they miss the playoffs alt together I’m not sure but whatever

It is I’ll be here to watch and one thing’s for sure the lers are always one of the most fun teams in the NBA to follow

subscribe for more NBA content

Email ● thraxmedia23@gmail.com