Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from LeBron James-less stretch of games

The Los Angeles Lakers are grinding through a tough period due to injuries to LeBron James and Rajon Rondo. Here are three takeaways from these 11 games.

A lot can change over an 11-game stretch in the Western Conference standings. The gap between the 4-seed and 14th place is only six games and a small losing streak can have a team on the outside looking in. The Los Angeles Lakers are not playing great basketball at the moment and have fallen into a tie for the 8-seed with the Utah Jazz.

The injuries to LeBron James and Rajon Rondo have taken away the Lakers’ top two ball-handlers and offensive initiators. The roster is very young and being without your two veterans that log extended minutes, as well as your best player by a mile, rough patches are to be expected. The problem is that while some of the losses could be expected, losing to bottom-feeding Eastern Conference teams could come back to haunt this team down the road.

Since that Christmas Day victory over the Golden State Warriors, the Lake Show is 4-7 and has fallen four spots in the standings. Head coach Luke Walton has tried lineup switches and recently shook up the starting lineup by putting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tyson Chandler into the starting five for Josh Hart and JaVale McGee.

It’s been a frustrating time for the Lakers, with people suggesting Walton’s job should be in jeopardy, but that doesn’t make sense given the Lakers are without their centerpiece and were humming before the King went down. Bearing all that in mind, here are three takeaways from this 11-game stretch in a LeBron-less world.