Los Angeles Lakers: The struggles started with Paul George in 2017

Many are blaming coach Luke Walton for the Los Angeles Lakers’ struggles, but their problems date back to the summer of 2017 when they missed out on Paul George

After eight consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, LeBron James is poised to miss the playoffs during his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

His arrival was supposed to signal the return of ‘Showtime’ to L.A. He was supposed to lead this team back to the playoffs (at least) and eventually back to the NBA Finals. Instead, the Lakers are 31-36, six and a half games back of their crosstown rivals in the 8th spot and with the same record they had at this time last season.

The franchise is, incredibly, at a stage where it may fail to match its win total from last after signing one of the greatest to ever do play the game.

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Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley gave an apt diagnosis of Lakers’ situation:

"“There’s crashing and burning, and then there’s whatever the Los Angeles Lakers have been doing for the last month-plus…Luke Walton looks like a sitting duck, and playoff elimination seems inevitable.”"

How on earth did we get here?

It all started back in the summer of 2017, when then-Indiana Pacers superstar Paul George formally informed the team that he would be opting out of his player option for the 2018-19 season and would not be re-signing with the organization that drafted him seven seasons prior. George also made it clear that he preferred a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.

NBA.com succinctly summed up the situation at the time:

"“The Los Angeles Lakers want Paul George. Paul George wants the Lakers.”"

The Lakers, having just dealt D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez, the 27th pick, and a whole host of cap space, had plenty of valuable assets that the Pacers were interested in, but hesitated to include the upcoming No. 2 pick in the draft or rising star Brandon Ingram in the deal.

President Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka had a plan to draft UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick and wanted to develop Ingram as part of this new, young core. They sat tight, unwilling to risk giving up important assets for a player they could seemingly just sign the next summer without any additional cost (by this point, George’s intentions to play – and reside long-term – in LA were abundantly clear).

As the Lakers deliberated over their options, one man went all-out in pursuit of a second superstar: Sam Presti. You have to feel for the Thunder GM. He took over in June 2007, and within three years had drafted Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. Some start, huh. But just three seasons into that star-studded lineup, Harden requested a trade, and Presti’s big three was split up. Fast forward another few years to the summer of 2016, and Presti lost Durant – his crown jewel – to the Golden State Warriors.

So, you can see why he was desperate to get another superstar to join Russell Westbrook and get them back to contending in the West.

The Paul George situation was unique at the time, in that George didn’t just request a trade out of his own organization, he had publicly and specifically expressed his intention to eventually sign with the Lakers. So, it was hard for other teams around the league – were they really willing to shell out big bucks for what potentially could just be a one-year rental before George jettisoned off into free agency and signed with the Lakers? But Presti didn’t necessarily see it that way. For him, it became a year-long recruiting process, where the Thunder had the opportunity to show this all-NBA caliber player that their organization was right for him.

So, on June 30th, 2017, the eve of the start of free agency, Presti sent Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to Indiana to acquire the rights to George. It was a potentially career-defining risk – either George would re-sign, and Presti would have pulled off an absolute daylight robbery, or he would jump ship to LA in the summer, leaving the Thunder far worse off than they started.

His commitment to the former Pacer certainly didn’t go unnoticed. George took note of the Lakers’ lack of effort towards trading for him, and on an appearance on Chris Pfaff’s “Short Story Long,” podcast this past summer, explained his thoughts at the time.

"“I wanted to go back and play for the Lakers. That was the initial plan…Lakers didn’t want to give up anything to grab me. So that was a salty taste.”"

A taste so salty, in fact, that George didn’t have the courtesy to grant Magic Johnson and the Lakers a meeting during his free agency in 2018.

And according to George, Johnson didn’t take his decision too well either.

"“I mean, L.A. was pissed at me. I didn’t give Magic [a meeting], which I understand.”"

But just two days later all was forgotten as Magic landed the biggest name in all of basketball. LeBron James was taking his talents to L.A. to bring them back to the successes of the past. Paul George who?

Fast forward six months to January 28 of this year. Megastar Anthony Davis, with a full year and a half still remaining on his contract, requests a trade. For the Lakers front office, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The team had started to click before LeBron went down with an injury and adding Davis to an already young and athletic lineup would instantly transform them into contenders.

With James at the latter stage of his career, Davis was the perfect superstar to take over the mantle as the Lakers’ next great big man. And, after missing out on Paul George and hearing the California native’s comments on their lack of ambition, Johnson and Pelinka weren’t about to let someone else come in and take their player again. Not this time.

The two went all-out in their chase for “The Brow,” including just about every player on their roster in trade talks. What followed next was beyond even their worst nightmares.

According to reports, New Orleans stopped answering the Lakers’ calls, with ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst even going as far as saying the Pelicans negotiated in bad faith with the Los Angeles-based franchise, and didn’t ever intend to engage in serious talks. But the real killer was what trade talks did for team morale.

With LeBron out, the Lakers were still competitive, with a 7-10 mark in the games they played after LeBron’s injury and before Davis’ trade request. But since Davis made his desire to play elsewhere clear and the Lakers began to explore trading their young core, the Lakers are 5-12 with a league-worst net rating of -8.4.

Some of it has been down to injuries, sure, with Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram all missing time recently, but the impact the trade had on the unity in that Lakers’ locker room was clear for all to see. These are second-and-third year pros, just a year or two removed from college, and they’re being talked about all day on every news channel as potential trades. These athletes are human, and at some point, the pressure got to the young players. I mean, just listen to Kyle Kuzma talk about the trade rumors here:

The Western Conference is so competitive that it only takes one bad stretch to knock you out of contention, and the Lakers had that in the immediate aftermath of Davis’ trade request. Their season is now over – LeBron has reportedly been placed on a minutes restriction and won’t play back-to-backs, as the rest of the season is nothing more than a formality at this point.

Things are going to look a lot different in LA next year. Luke Walton will likely be out as head coach. It’s possible that Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram come back strong next year and the team picks up on the strong stretch they had before LeBron’s injury. But it’s also possible that the damage has already been done, and that this is it for the Lakers’ promising young core. The franchise is in win-now mode, as it always has been, and the three may easily be moved on.

Lakers fans will hope for a fresh start next time around, hopefully with that elusive second superstar.