The Los Angeles Lakers are hitting a bit of turbulence as they head into the heart of the season. After dropping four of their last eight, the Lakers sit at 19-8-still a strong record, but enough of a slip to land them in fourth place in the Western Conference. For a team with championship aspirations, that’s not exactly where they want to be, especially with the West as deep and dangerous as ever.
Injuries have played a major role in this recent skid. Saturday’s loss to the Clippers was a glaring example of just how thin the Lakers' rotation has become.
Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent, Deandre Ayton, and Rui Hachimura were all sidelined, and to make matters worse, Luka Doncic exited at halftime with a leg contusion and didn’t return. That’s a lot of firepower and versatility missing from the lineup, and it showed.
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers are hoping to get some reinforcements. Ayton is set to return, which is a big boost for their frontcourt presence, and Reaves is listed as questionable-potentially giving the Lakers back one of their most versatile perimeter contributors. But they’ll still be without Doncic, Hachimura, and Vincent, which means the depth will once again be tested.
And Phoenix? They’ve been inconsistent, sitting at 15-13 and having dropped six of their last nine.
But don’t let that record fool you-the Suns have already given the Lakers problems this season. Back on December 1st, they rolled into Crypto.com Arena and handed L.A. a 125-108 beatdown.
Two weeks later, the Lakers nearly let a big fourth-quarter lead slip away before barely escaping with a two-point win.
So while the Suns may not be lighting up the standings right now, this is not a team the Lakers can afford to overlook. With Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal all capable of catching fire, Phoenix has the offensive firepower to punish any defensive lapses-especially against a shorthanded Lakers squad.
If the Lakers want to stay near the top of the West, they’ll need to start stringing together wins again, and that starts with handling business against teams like Phoenix. That means better execution, more consistent defense, and someone-whether it’s LeBron, AD, or a role player stepping up-taking control when the game tightens up.
With the roster still banged up, the margin for error is thin. But this is also the kind of stretch that can sharpen a team’s identity for the long haul.