Time for the Los Angeles Lakers to Discover Who They Really Are

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers started the season with such great promise, upsetting teams like the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls in the early going. The young Lakers were the buzz of the NBA, at least for a month.

That early excitement has long since faded with the Lakers losing 11 of their last 12 games.

The Lakers will wrap up a seven-game trip on Friday against the Orlando Magic, ending an unproductive trip that has yielded just a single victory. The road has been anything but kind.

“A lot of times on the road, you get away from everything else and it’s just you and your teammates. Some bonding and brotherhood can come together,” coach Luke Walton said prior to the team’s exodus. “Other times a seven-game road trip can wear everybody out and people get on each other’s nerves.”

It remains to be seen how unified the locker room will be once the Lakers return home.

A combination of injuries, scheduling and one of the NBA’s most porous defenses has dropped the Lakers to 11th place in the Western Conference. Still, the Lakers are somehow just 2.5 games behind the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers (13-18) in the standings.

In the other direction, they’re only two games ahead of the 7-21 Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets for league-worst.

With 50 games left to play, it’s not too late for the Lakers to make the playoffs. Likewise, L.A. may still salvage its 2017 first-round pick—owed to the Sixers if not a top-three selection—should it continue to lose at an alarming rate.

Whichever path they take, now is the time for the Lakers to discover who they are for the 2016-17 season.

The Positives

The Lakers have played more games than any team in the league at 32. A heavy workload continues through late January, but overall Los Angeles has the fewest games remaining.

Additionally, the Lakers have played the most road games in the NBA at 19, winning just five. Beginning on Christmas Day, the Lakers play eight of nine at home. Outside of an eight-game stretch with seven on the road during February, most of the remaining schedule is at Staples Center.

The Lakers can score the ball in bunches, as they showed building early leads against the Miami Heat on Thursday and Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, even if they lost both games because their defense was lacking. They also competed in defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.

At times, over recent games, this squad resembles the one that started the season so well.

Emerging young talents like D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.—along with veterans like Lou Williams, Nick Young, Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng—are finding ways to contribute on the floor. 

The consistency hasn’t been there but the team has enough firepower on the roster to turn back the season, provided the defense picks up in kind.

Russell can be both a deadly shooter and willing passer. Ingram’s defensive length and instincts are off the charts. Randle’s creation as point forward in transition has been breathtaking. Clarkson is one of the league’s top scorers off the bench at 14.5 points a game. Nance’s earth-shattering dunks can stop the internet.

Larry Nance Jr. leveled up last night…