Los Angeles Lakers: Will LeBron’s first year be viewed as a failure?

In-season occurrences

Even with all that already said, perhaps what did in the Lakers most this season is what this team had to go through during the regular season. The Lakers were humming along until LeBron James and Lonzo Ball missed significant time this season, and you simply can’t explain the year without talking about each of those occurrences.

LeBron injured his hamstring on Christmas Day against the Warriors and ended up missing 17 games this season. During those 17 games, the Lakers went 6-11. When LeBron got injured, the Lakers were 20-14 and 2.5 games out of first place in the West.

When he returned from injury, on Jan. 31, the Lakers were 26-25 and sitting in the 9th slot of the Western Conference. Couple that with the fact that Lonzo Ball has been out of action since Jan. 21, and he is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

Those two injuries dictated the second half of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers, and it’s not surprising why this team failed to make the playoffs. Perhaps the Lakers could’ve overcame the loss of Ball for a few weeks, but losing LeBron was the nail in the coffin for the Los Angeles.