Los Angeles Lakers: 3 reasons fans shouldn’t be panicking

3. We knew this would be a process

When LeBron was signed back in July, most Lakers fans assumed the team’s time had come. With the King now wearing purple and gold, the playoffs seemed like a lock. Well, as much as everyone in Laker Land wanted to believe that, there were plenty of skeptics.

As it turns out, the skeptics had it right. They knew there wasn’t quite enough talent on this Lakers roster for James to tip the scales. More importantly, they knew it would be a process — one that could take more than a single offseason to see this Los Angeles squad develop into a contender.

The Lakers making a run in 2018-19 was always a pipe dream. It takes time for a young roster like this one to develop chemistry when a talent like James is inserted into the equation. In one season, it went from Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma being the future of the franchise to all three being expendable if it meant landing the Lakers another superstar.

That instability certainly led to many of the problems Los Angeles has suffered through this season. It’s part of the process of trying to build an overnight contender, especially when part of the plan is trading away your young assets for a top-tier talent.

It seemed obvious from the get-go that this current Lakers team wasn’t going to be playing for a Larry O’Brien trophy in 2019. Don’t get too upset that — surprise! — that ended up being the case.