Los Angeles Lakers: 5 biggest disappointments from 2017-18 NBA season

5. Performances against playoff teams

One of the first things that stands out about young, emerging teams is their performance levels against those higher-placed, more experienced teams.

This proved true this past season for the Lakers, which is understandable when you consider that four of their regular starters (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball) were 25 or younger. As a result, this young and inexperienced lineup posted an 11-32 record against teams that made this year’s postseason.

Among these losses were being swept 4-0 by the defending champion Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves, losing the season series 3-0 to the New Orleans Pelicans, and getting blown away 133-96 at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Following their horrible loss to the Thunder, head coach Luke Walton summed up very succinctly the general feeling of the franchise when such performances arise:

"“Our fans deserve better than that and our organization deserves better than that.”"

On the flip side, the Lakers performed well overall against the 13 other non-playoff teams, compiling a 24-15 record over the course of the season. However, their record against the elite in the league is very much going to determine how far they progress moving forward.