Pre-season expectations
Back in August, Bleacher Report had the Lakers winning 44 games this season, which probably would’ve been enough to make the playoffs. ESPN similarly had the Lakers wining 46 games and clinching the 6th seed in the West. Sporting News had the Lakers as a top 8 team before the season as well.
Despite all the noise about the Lakers potentially being a dark horse to content in the West with the likes of the Warriors, Rockets and Thunder (and now Nuggets), this team was more in line with a 6-8 finish in the West than a top 4 finish. Perhaps some of that got distorted by their hot start, combined with many underwhelming starts by other contenders in the West, to the season.
After their big win over the Warriors on Christmas Day – which ironically was the beginning of their collapse this season – the Lakers were sitting in the 4th seed and just 2.5 games back of the top-seeded Nuggets and Warriors. That potentially changed expectations for this team across the board, and left them for unfair criticism when they began to make the fall down the standings.