Lakers: LeBron James Admits He Still Has No Idea What This Team Can Do

With a lack of roster health, LBJ still does not know.

The Lakers continue to disappoint so far this season. After a big loss to the Suns on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, they fell back to the .500 mark at 16-16. And with a tough slate of games on the horizon, things aren't exactly looking up. 

And in all fairness to Frank Vogel and his squad, they have yet to play a game at full health. The COVID-19 outbreaks can partially be attributed to that, but there are deeper injuries plaguing the Lakers. 

That's sort of the argument made by LeBron James following their loss to the Suns. The Lakers star sounded a little exasperated when asked if they can truly assess where they are as a team at this point in the season. 

I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so. … We don’t know. We have no idea what this team can be. …How can we really fully assess what we have when we haven’t been whole? I can’t remember the last time we played the same starting lineup and had the same rotation coming off the bench. It’s been a long time. So, it’s hard to assess that.

The Lakers are truly a team searching for their identity just over 30 games into the season. But they're also in danger of falling under .500, something that James has not had happen with a team through 33 games since 2007-08.

Keep in mind, the Lakers just got Trevor Ariza into games as well, and they're still missing Kendrick Nunn. Both of those guys are supposed to be a pretty big part of the Lakers' rotations.

They're also now playing without Anthony Davis for at least a month after an MCL sprain in his knee. That certainly complicates things moving forward as the Lakers won't be back at full roster health until closer to February. The hope is that they can maintain pace in the Western Conference until then, but much of it will fall on James and Russell Westbrook. 

It's going to be a bumpy ride.