Los Angeles, we have a problem.
At least that’s what Lakers legend Magic Johnson believes, as he made the case that the team has issues in a series of posts on X on Tuesday after his beloved team was knocked out of the NBA playoffs by the Nuggets.
The Lakers lost the first three games of the series before they staved off a sweep with a Game 4 win, but the final nail in the coffin came Monday night in a 108-106 loss in Game 5.
“Laker Nation, we have a problem,” Johnson wrote. “All the good teams in the West are young and talented: the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, the Thunder, and the Mavs. And the BIGGEST elephant in the room is the Spurs, who with Victor Wembanyama, will definitely be a playoff team next season.
“For the Lakers to compete with all these teams, the roster MUST improve.”
Los Angeles is certainly at a crossroads after the quick playoff elimination, which needed the team to win in the play-in round just to qualify for the first round.
Superstar LeBron James said he was undecided about his future with the Lakers, and there are questions about the job security of head coach Darvin Ham.
“The Lakers have nobody but themselves to blame,” Johnson continued in another post. “They wouldn’t have been in the play-in game or finished as a 7th seed this season if they hadn’t lost too many games because of load management.”
He added: “And the #1 reason the Lakers can’t beat Denver in a 7 game series is because the Nuggets are mentally and physically tougher than the Lakers.”
There were some flaws with the second half of Johnson’s reasoning, specifically about the load management aspect of it.
While it has become a very popular concept to criticize in the NBA, the Lakers may not have been as guilty of it as Johnson makes it out to be.
James had been dealing with a nagging ankle injury after the All-Star break, but he missed only three games after March 1, and Anthony Davis only missed two games during that stretch.
And when one looks at the team’s roster, the Lakers had six players appear in at least 70 games during the regular season.
As is usually the case, social media users were quick to criticize Johnson for his take on load management.
Regardless, there are issues ahead for Los Angeles that will need to be addressed before the 2024-25 season begins.
