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Lakers News: NBA Twitter Goes Off Against L.A.'s Scrub-Heavy Lineups Vs. Phoenix, With One Exception

The Lakers were missing four of their five most-used players in an eventual 130-104 blowout.

Alex Kirschenbaum

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If last night's game was any indication, your Los Angeles Lakers might be in for some tough sledding with Anthony Davis on the shelf indefinitely. I wonder if they regret giving up quite that many draft picks on that fateful summer night in 2019...

With no Davis, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook or Austin Reaves on the floor, L.A. started out flat against a Phoenix Suns team missing two starters of its own in Devin Booker and Cameron Johnson, and never recovered. The final margin: 130-104, Suns.

NBA Twitter, knowing the game was essentially over before tip-off, wasted no time in picking apart the product on the floor Monday.

Silver Screen And Roll's Raj Chipalu weighed in with some choice words for 6'1" starting shooting guard Patrick Beverley:

Why is Beverley still starting for this team? He's a decent perimeter defender, but is the 6'1" 34-year-old really much better at this stage in his career than, say, Austin Reaves or Lonnie Walker IV? Though he had a mediocre offensive game in Phoenix on paper (nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, but a -17 plus-minus), Pat Bev just generally surrenders far too much size and offense to actually start at the two. This writer would like to see a healthy Lakers starting five of Dennis Schroder, Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown Jr., LeBron James and Anthony Davis, or perhaps Reaves at the point, Walker, James at small forward, Davis at power forward, and Thomas Bryant at center. Bottom line: it's time to sit Patrick Beverley.

Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports contextualized just how many LeBron Lakers mini-eras the Suns have vanquished during their six-game regular season win streak, with that iconic shot of then-Lakers center Andre Drummond emulating LeBron James as he backed down Phoenix power forward Jae Crowder, who was at the time an enthusiastic Sun:

That 2020-21 title-defending team may have been somewhat maligned at the time, but were it not for major injuries to James and Davis, those Lakers could have easily finished in the West's top four. Surrendering so much of that club's depth for Russell Westbrook was one of this front office's most bonkers roster mistakes to date.

Patrick Beverley was sufficiently clowned for his rivalry with Chris Paul, who at this point is probably his biggest adversary with Russell Westbrook now a colleague.

Another fan paid their respects to Beverley's persistent, totally superfluous CP3 trolling:

Through three quarters, only one Laker had really, truly bothered to step up to face the moment against a much better Suns club: starting point guard Dennis Schröder, who -- as Michael Corvo of Clutch Points notes -- had scored 30 of the team's first 77 points!

Schröder's season-high outpouring tonight endeared him to some bitter, bitter Twitter Lakers fans, who are hopeful L.A. will undergo yet another massive roster rebuild (which seems kind of likely, given the front office's affinity for doing just that).

Ex-Laker Kyle Kuzma, whose Washington Wizards as you'll recall just lost their tenth straight game in a 119-117 Sunday defeat to L.A., was in attendance Monday to check out the action, ahead of a Wizards-Suns matchup tonight. Kuzma of course has been linked as a possible trade target for both the Suns and the Lakers (who traded him, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a pick and Montrezl Harrell away in 2021 for the privilege of overpaying Russell Westbrook). 

Arizona Sports's Kellan Olson joked that the teams were playing for the right to trade for Kuz:

Here's hoping the Lakers will be a bit healthier when they face off against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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