Reaves-less Lakers

On Christmas Day at Crypto.com Arena, what was supposed to be a gift to fans instead became spoiled by a deepening malaise. The Lakers were once again outworked on the glass and clearly lacking in fundamentals en route to an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the visiting Rockets. The development wasn’t lost on all and sundry, and head coach JJ Redick joined critics in questioning their effort. “We don’t care enough right now,” he lamented in his postmortem.

Considering the Lakers’ swoon, Redick was justified in his blunt indictment of his charges’ lack of buy-in to the cause. They started the season with promise, moving up to as high as second in the highly competitive West at one point, but three straight defeats and six in 10 outings revealed their recent struggles to execute even the basics. And he was right to question their, in his words, “effort and execution.” His willingness to call out his roster publicly signaled his frustration with outcomes and, more importantly, with the glaring absence of professional consistency.

Needless to say, part of the trouble is attributable to personnel instability. On an evening when the Lakers desperately needed cohesion, presumptive All-Star Austin Reaves exited early with a sore left calf. An MRI later confirmed a Grade 2 strain, sidelining him for at least four weeks. It’s a blow not just to the rotation of the people and hold, but to their identity as well; he is enjoying a career year, exhibiting his unique brand of playmaking and scoring that have become central to their offensive flow.

Losing Reaves compounds the Lakers’ maladies. His absence will always be missed, but it comes at an especially wrong time and strips Redick of a reliable secondary scorer and floor spacer; bench pieces and role players are forced to log heavier workloads amid a defensive slide. Significantly, he had just returned from a calf injury and briefly reignited hopes of a sustained breakout. Now, questions loom about longer-term positioning in a conference where nearly all protagonists are bona fide contenders.

Redick’s candor about the Lakers’ next meeting being “uncomfortable” reflects an inflection point. The best of the best in the National Basketball Association are able to weather storms in light of their rock-solid culture. But when the head coach views commitment as a choice and sees it wanting on the court, it necessitates deeper work behind the scenes. And, yes, the marquee names, particularly Luka Doncic and LeBron James, will be asked not only to fill star lines, but to anchor the locker room as they navigate the next month without Reaves.

The Christmas loss, and the reaction it elicited, may well prove to be a defining turn of events for the Lakers. It is one thing for them to say they care, and quite another to show it through accountability regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard. How they respond to the challenge, both on the practice floor and in matches, will reveal whether the promise of the season can survive adversity or whether it unravels under the weight of unmet expectations.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.