Since entering the NBA in 2003, LeBron James has only missed the playoffs three times. But the number may increase to four within the next two weeks, as his championship-or-bust Los Angeles Lakers aren't showing any signs of some late-season surge or turnaround. Their coffin is practically nailed shut.
With both James and star teammate Anthony Davis sidelined due to injuries, the Lakers were beaten up in a 128-110 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, and fell out of the Western Conference's play-in tournament. Only seven games remain on Los Angeles' regular season schedule, and the final stretch lacks optimism. After all, they're a pitiful 31-44 and in 11th place.
"This is a very low-level of achievement, and they haven't been able to do it. They want to get there, they're just not very good," Lakers beat reporter Dan Woike told the Maggie and Perloff show on Wednesday. "I think the indignity of leading the league in scoring, in a year in which your team doesn't make the playoffs, I'm sure that wouldn't sit great with [James]...
"When you have LeBron James, you're all-in. The Lakers are as committed as any team in the NBA now. Their future is functionally tied up in three players, in James, Davis, and Russell Westbrook... The biggest decision will be what to do with Westbrook, and the decision that they'll probably wind up making is, you'll further leverage your future... The one thing I learned this year: it's a really thin line between hope and delusion."
In a season chock-full of injuries, dysfunction, and poor roster management, James has ironically produced one of his most impressive campaigns for the Lakers. In 55 games, the 37-year-old has averaged a team-high 30.1 points -- his highest mark since the 2009-10 season -- with 8.8 boards and 1.3 steals. But carrying this flawed roster isn't a one-man job. Far from it, actually.
Los Angeles currently ranks bottom-four in the NBA in average points allowed and bottom-10 in defensive rating. The defense was exposed by the Mavs on Tuesday, as they gave up 82 first-half points, the most points they've allowed in a first half since the franchise moved to Southern California in 1960. Two of James' three years away from the playoffs also occurred before he turned 21.
The Lakers -- now on the wrong end of a play-in tournament tiebreaker with the San Antonio Spurs -- will return to action on Thursday in a road matchup against the fifth-place Utah Jazz. According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, Los Angeles has only a 2-percent chance to reach the playoffs. Before the season started, they had the second-best odds to win the NBA Finals.
The entire Lakers conversation between Woike and Maggie and Perloff can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Maggie and Perloff Show on Twitter @MaggieandPerl and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.