Lakers News: Pundit Reveals Biggest Issue Keeping LA From True Contention

Does LA need to make a trade to fix this?

An 11-9 start for your Lakers has been flooded with ups and downs, but the ups haven't been nearly good enough to suggest that this team is capable of winning a championship. The downs have also been bad enough to make LA look like a second-round exit at best. 

Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote all about these issues in a recent piece, where he discusses that the Lakers have "several" major issues.  

What is the Lakers' biggest early concern?

They have several through 20 games — health, perimeter athleticism and defense, slow starts — but their league-worst 3-point shooting is the factor most likely to hold them back from being a true contender: https://t.co/AQC4SDn63O

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 1, 2023

Buha cites LA's health, perimeter defense, athleticism, and slow starts as problems, but lists the cherry on top – and the biggest problem, to be their 3-point shooting.

He's completely correct (in my unbiased opinion), as each issue that he mentions is one that I've personally cited as something that could rear its ugly head down the stretch (if it hasn't already). 

LA is in a situation now where they're banged up, struggle with transition defense (which is an issue given that teams tend to push the pace against them deliberately), and come out extremely slow in games, posting the league's 3rd worst 1st quarter net rating (an improvement from being 2nd worst a few days ago). 

With their inability to shoot 3s, they're locked out of games and aren't able to complete comebacks in chunks, instead needing to claw away at leads using their defense and interior scoring. 

This has worked at times, as LA has had a few signature comeback victories this season, but those have come against short-handed and/or middling teams. Come playoff time, that won't work against teams like Denver, Minnesota, or even Sacramento, whom LA has already lost to twice, and one loss featured a failed double-digit comeback attempt. 

At this stage, the Lakers have a few things to look at as positives, highlighted by their team's improving health. Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt are set to return, with the latter of the two making his season debut. 

While that's great, Vando is a defensive specialist, and so while he'll be great with the team's transition defense, athleticism, and perimeter defense, he's not going to fix their offensive woes, highlighted by their poor 3-point shooting. 

Hachimura is a good offensive player and can shoot the 3-ball at a solid level, but he's not a great defender and possesses subpar athleticism, which presents its own issues when it comes to matching up with more versatile wings and bigs across the league. 

LA has no one-size-fits-all piece, and it's not realistic for them to trade for one either. Few players are so well-rounded that they can contribute at a high level on both sides of the ball, but this is an offensively-driven league, and for that reason, improving on that side of the ball – especially from behind the arc, could be the key that unlocks this team's legitimate championship hopes. 

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