The Lakers will need to find new creative ways to win in the coming weeks while their All-Star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis are sidelined due to lower-body injuries. And that's easier said than done, since fans have already gotten a glimpse of how the team performs without its dynamic duo.
Los Angeles (28-16) dropped its third straight game on Tuesday night in New Orleans, losing to the Pelicans, 128-111. It was the Lakers' second night without James, who suffered a high ankle sprain against the Atlanta Hawks last Saturday and is reportedly out indefinitely. As if things weren't discouraging enough, Davis missed his 16th consecutive game with a right calf strain and tendinosis in his right Achilles, and veteran center Marc Gasol was absent for a ninth straight contest because of the league's COVID health and safety protocols.
Are the Lakers' hopes of defending their NBA title dwindling? Probably not, considering they've played just 61-percent of their regular season schedule and James and Davis -- barring significant setbacks -- will return to the floor before the playoffs arrive.
But the team isn't going to rush its stars back into action, and with 11 of their next 18 games away from the Staples Center, expect the Lakers to drop in the Western Conference standings, according to Lakers Nation senior writer Trevor Lane.
"The Lakers have said they're not going to do anything to push these guys, and their goal is to make sure they're ready to go [come playoff time]," Lane told After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Wednesday. "The Lakers had a fairly light schedule early on in the season. The downside, obviously, is now the second half of season, and they're hitting those tougher teams and hitting them when you don't have LeBron or Anthony Davis.
"So, you have to expect that there's going to be a little bit of a slide in the standings now because of this. I think that's going to be unavoidable. The question is, can they at least minimize the bleeding, to some degree."
If Los Angeles does tread water while James and Davis are absent, it could be largely thanks to contributions from sixth man Montrezl Harrell. The 6-foot-7 power forward has been Lakers' leading scorer in the last three games, and emerged as one of their go-to options on offense.
"The real challenge with this is, you have a Lakers team here that's constructed to play alongside LeBron James and play alongside Anthony Davis," Lane said. "And so now you're asking players to do things out there on the floor that they aren't completely comfortable with and don't have a lot of experience doing. And the main thing that I'm talking about is, creating offense, either for themselves or others. They're used to having LeBron out there and creating those looks or Anthony Davis...
"You can kind of see it with the Lakers' offense in the past few games without these guys, it's a real struggle to get good looks at the basket. We certainly saw it tonight against the Pelicans. So, that's going to be a challenge moving forward as well for guys beyond just Dennis Schroder. Can anybody else consistently create offensive opportunities for them, and that's going to be a challenge here for the next few weeks."
Entering Wednesday, the Lakers rank fourth overall in the Western Conference, and trail the Phoenix Suns by two games for first place in the Pacific Division.
The entire Lakers conversation between Lane and Amy Lawrence can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Twitter @ALawRadio and @AfterHoursCBS, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.