The Lakers had a busy week, and lost two of the three games they played. So why do we declare it a success? And what exactly does success look like on the upcoming road trip? We explain. Because while LeBron and Anthony Davis are still out, Andre Drummond is nursing his nail-less big toe and so on, success is a relative term, with a very specific meaning. From there, it's on to Drummond. How hard is it to play without a toenail? How long might he be out? What did we see in the one half he played (last week vs. Milwaukee) that might hint at how he'll fit in? What do the Lakers do now until he ..read more

The Lakers played, and won, two games this weekend, one against a conventionally bad team (Cleveland), and the other against a catastrophically awful group (Orlando). Even shorthanded, they might not seem like much, but it can be argued these were the most important wins of the season. Without LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the lineup, the team is poised to lose a lot of games. They're rarely going to have the best player available in any game, and often won't have any of the top three. So dropping games against low talent squads like the Magic, when better groups await (Milwaukee, Brooklyn ..read more

The news is big, and it ain't good. Saturday against the Hawks, LeBron James suffered a very nasty looking high ankle sprain, and has been declared "out indefinitely" by the Lakers. Whether that means seven, 10, 15 or more games remains to be seen, but with only 29 remaining following Sunday's loss to the Suns in Phoenix, the Lakers don't have much time to get their house in order before the playoffs begin. The margin for error, if it's still there, is shrinking. And just where might they be when those playoffs roll around? The schedule gets harder, and the shorthandedLakers, light on front ..read more

The Lakers announced this week that Anthony Davis is healing, but it'll be at least two more weeks until he's cleared to play. At the least, Davis won't see game action before the end of March, and more likely it'll be a week or two into April. So what does that mean for Davis? For the Lakers? We break it down in the newest edition of the Land O'Lakers podcast. -When does Davis return? How do the Lakers handle that, so injury doesn't recur? And how much time do the Lakers need at full strength to get themselves ready for the playoffs? -Davis is the headliner, but the Lakers are running low o ..read more

He's the big cheese over at Silver Screen and Roll, and one of our favorite people out in the NBA universe. Harrison Faigen of SilverScreenandRoll.com joins the show to review what we've seen to this point in the Lakers season, and preview what's to come. Plus... we dive into some of the more controversial aspects of the All Star Weekend! No shortage of options, there. And that's actually where we start. First, what was the reaction to the game? Clearly, investment from players on the floor was lower than normal. LeBron James projected a strong "I'm just here so I don't get fined" vibe, and d ..read more

As the Lakers endured a four-game losing streak, we said on this show the losses, while frustrating, revealed little about the makeup of the team, short of the obvious: When the Lakers don't have Anthony Davis and Dennis Schröder, they're too short on talent to win a lot of games. Particularly on the offensive end. If the losing continues after they return? Now they've got a real problem. This week, though, showed how that may not be an issue. Schröder returned from his stint in the league's health and safety and the team beat Portland and Golden State, two teams that had been playing pretty ..read more

That the Lakers are slumping without Anthony Davis (calf strain) and Dennis Schröder (health and safety protocols) in the lineup isn't exactly a surprise. Most teams would suffer without an all-world guy like Davis, and the type of dynamic scorer that Schröder is, particularly when nobody left on the roster not named LeBron James can serve as that type of offensive catalyst. The Lakers, in short, are having trouble scoring. Why? We mentioned the absences, and then there's the shooting. It remains horrible over the month of February, with the team under 30 percent from beyond the arc. They're ..read more

The Lakers and Nets were supposed to have a marquee, earth-shaking tussle on Thursday, but instead had it derailed by player absences. No Anthony Davis, no Kevin Durant, and then in a surprise, no Dennis Schroder, who was a late scratch after being put in the COVID protocols. More information about that will surely emerge in the next few days. But in the meantime, it meant there wasn't much to learn about what a Lakers vs. Nets NBA Finals might look like. One thing is clear, though, the Nets are a whole lot of fun to watch, and in some ways represent the NBA's equivalent of the Cheeseburger D ..read more

The Lakers got bad news on Monday, though it certainly could have been worse. Anthony Davis, who re-aggravated his Achilles tendinosis Sunday in Denver, will almost surely miss the nine games remaining for the Lakers before the All Star Break. But an MRI revealed no structural damage to the tendon itself, meaning long term hopes for the season are still, like A.D.'s leg, still intact. But what happens now? The Lakers first have a decision to make about who starts. It's likely Kyle Kuzma, but should it be someone else? How can the Lakers fill the gaps on both sides of the ball created by the ..read more

As much as anything can be in this day and age, the 2020-21 season for the Lakers has been pretty smooth sailing. No COVID-19-related cancellations, little by way of injuries, piling up wins, and so on. Now, we seem to be passing through a potentially more challenging stretch. Anthony Davis has been diagnosed with tendonosis of his right Achilles. The Lakers don't seem to be overly concerned, and reports say structurally the Achilles is fine. He's likely to miss Monday's game vs. OKC, and nothing has been said beyond that. So are his injury and his disappointing-for-him play to this point rel ..read more