Just over a week ago it looked as if the Los Angeles Lakers might have hit rock bottom -- because of their inability to hit anything at all.
In just over a minute and a half of game time in the first quarter against the Miami Heat at home, the Lakers turned the ball over five times in a downright brutal six-possession span. They'd have 17 more. More troubling, still: The Lakers were terribly off the mark, even more than they normally are. Of the 30 three-point attempts they launched that night, they made just four, or 13.3%.
The sputtering 110-96 defeat was so frustrating that LeBron James, who had shot 6-for-18 overall and 0-for-6 from 3, left without speaking to the media.
In James' defense, what was there to say, really? The Lakers were suddenly under .500, and had lost nine of their last 12 games. It was a precipitous drop for a team that not only began the season 14-9, but also one that thought it had found something after overhauling the roster last season to punch a trip to the conference finals. The Lakers were in great spirits even last month after making what seemed like a resounding statement in Las Vegas by winning the league's in-season tournament.
Perhaps most confusing about it all: Unlike in recent years, when much of the team's losing could be chalked up to either James, Anthony Davis or both being out with injuries, the superstar duo has played together in all but five of their 39 games (87%) -- on pace to be by far the most they've played together in their five-year Lakers tenure. If that holds, it would best the 72.8% mark the duo played in together back in 2019-20, the lone season the pair won an NBA title. In their other three campaigns together -- 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 -- James and Davis played in 37.5%, 26.8% and 43.9% of their games together, respectively.
Yet Los Angeles ranks a dismal 23rd in offense, logging just 112.1 points per 100 possessions -- only a touch better than the 6-31 Washington Wizards.