NBA Rumors: Lakers’ Frank Vogel could be on the hot seat

NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel may be on the hot seat. 

Through the first 20 games of the season, somewhat surprisingly, the Los Angeles Lakers are only 10-10. However, considering the number of injuries that the team has faced through the first quarter of the season, you could actually make a case that they should be happy about where they stand in the Western Conference standings at the moment.

Nevertheless, after acquiring Russell Westbrook at the NBA Draft, I’m not sure many expected the Lakers to be where they find themselves at this point in the season.

And if the Lakers don’t considerably rebound from the average start to the season, I’m sure there will be a fall guy. And you can almost bet that it’s not going to be LeBron James or Anthony Davis. It’s probably too early in the season for it to be Russell Westbrook too.

That means that it will probably end up being head coach Frank Vogel, which is often the case. If a team underperforms, there has to be a fall guy – for the Lakers, considering their current circumstances, it’s more than likely going to be Vogel.

And veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein has already given voice to that.

"“There is also rising buzz in coaching circles about the pressure mounting on Frank Vogel given the Lakers’ worrisome 10-10 start … given L.A.’s lack of flexibility to make roster changes”"

Heading into the season, the overwhelming thought was that the Lakers were either going to be a contender in the West or it was all going to fall apart. And that’s exactly what we see is happening so far this season.

In part due to injury to LeBron, the Lakers have massively underperformed. Even though there’s still time for the team to recover from this early disappointment, the margin of error for Vogel is likely small.

LeBron has played in less than half of the Lakers’ games so far this season and, predictably, the team is better when he’s in the lineup. But Vogel needs to push all the right buttons from here on out. There is not much wiggle room for the Lakers if they intend on being a contender in the West this season.

The Lakers have been disappointing this season, but there’s still hope for them to turn their season around. And if that doesn’t happen, you can see the writing on the wall of what may happen next. Fair or not, it likely will come at the expense of Vogel.