With Wednesday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 0-4 to start this season. While overall expectations for the team were lower coming into this season, a start this bad is still something few could have predicted as they simply can’t seem to get over the hump.
Even though no one had the Lakers in the championship contender category coming into the year, this is still the Los Angeles Lakers where that is always the ultimate goal. And if the 2022-23 version of the team is going to accomplish that goal, they will have to make NBA history to do so.
According to StatMuse, no team in the history of the NBA has ever won the NBA Championship after starting the season 0-4, meaning the Lakers would have to be the first:
Fun fact: No team has won the NBA championship after starting the season 0-4 pic.twitter.com/Yj6uIfZ1C2
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 27, 2022
Obviously this roster as currently constructed is not a championship-level roster and some moves need to be made in order to get the Lakers closer to where they want to be. The team is reportedly having some discussions about potential trades, but the front office has not pulled the trigger on any deals just yet.
What the Lakers do have is a superstar duo that is still extremely effective. LeBron James is averaging 25.3 points 10 rebounds and 7.8 assists in the first four games while Anthony Davis has been excellent so far as well averaging 24 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.3 blocks. But the supporting cast has struggled for the most part, especially in terms of perimeter shooting as the Lakers have posted historically low 3-point shooting numbers.
There have still been some flashes, particularly on the defensive end, that show this team is building an identity, but the team simply needs more. When it comes down to it, until something changes, the Lakers’ championship hopes are miniscule at best.
Davis stresses importance of Lakers getting first win of the season
If the Lakers do plan on turning things around, they have to get rid of the zero underneath their win column and Davis spoke to the importance of getting that first victory.
Following the loss to the Nuggets, Davis said the only thing that matters is getting the first win, after which the Lakers will be able to build on that. Davis added that if the team is able to keep playing defense at the level they have been, they will be ok big picture but still must get that victory to ‘get the monkey off our back.’
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