Old isn’t always gold

By Zafir Nagji, Staff Writer

As we approach the halfway point of the 2023-24 NBA season, fans have been spoiled with surprises. Some of these are feel-good stories, like the young Indiana Pacers leading the league in offensive rating after missing the playoffs last year. Other teams, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, have been less fortunate.

California basketball has almost always been a reliable source of entertainment in the NBA. The Lakers are tied with the Celtics for the most championships in league history at 17, and even though the Warriors have ten fewer rings than the team from Hollywood, Golden State’s dynasty dominated the 2010s, winning four championships in six NBA Finals appearances between 2015 and 2022.

However, this season, the Lakers and Warriors are outside of the playoff picture looking in, with the former occupying the 10th seed in the Western Conference and the latter stuck in 12th. So, what exactly is plaguing the Pacific Coast squads?

The Warriors’ struggles jump out more obviously, as they weren’t considered contenders last year and didn’t significantly improve their roster going into this year. With Stephen Curry still at the helm and playing just as good as, if not better than, his two MVP years, his co-stars, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green just haven’t been as productive as they were in the Warriors’ championship years.

Thompson played his first full NBA season last year after tearing his Achilles tendon and ACL on opposite legs. Since those injuries, his defensive abilities have taken a significant step back. Still, his three-point shot has always been his most effective ability, as he has shot over 41 per cent from downtown for his career.

This year, though, he’s been stuck at 38 per cent from that range and apart from some anomalous games where vintage Thompson makes an appearance, he’s no longer the shooting threat he once was.

Combine that with Draymond Green’s 15-game suspension for his on-court antics, including stomping, choking, kicking, and roundhouse punching other players in games, and the end starts to seem nigh for the Bay Area dynasty.

The Lakers’ issues stem from their rosters’ unique amalgamation of aging superstars and underperforming role players who don’t properly fit around them. LeBron James, now a 39-year-old halfway through his 21st season in the league, and Anthony Davis, now 30- years-old and with a myriad of injuries in his history, are both having great seasons, don’t get it twisted. But that is where the good news ends for the historic franchise.

James and Davis specialize in scoring near the basket, tallying the 13th most points per game for any two-man lineup that’s played at least 25 games. To complement their skill sets, Los Angeles needed to stock up on potent outside shooting to space the floor and open up driving lanes to the basket. However, the Lakers are 28th in the league in made three-pointers and 20th in three-point shooting percentage this season thanks to underwhelming seasons from role players like Taurean Prince, Rui Hachimura, and Cam Reddish.

The Lakers also tried to retain some of their better assets from last season, like defensive ace Jarred Vanderbilt and veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell, but they have been unable to replicate their success from 2022-23.

Vanderbilt missed the first 20 games of the season due to injury, only to come back averaging less than three points in 18 minutes per game. Even though he was brought on for his defensive prowess, his utter lack of production on the offensive end, particularly as a shooter, allows teams to ignore him on defence and instead load up on stopping Davis and James in the paint.

Russell, while being paid and played the third-most on the team, has been wildly inconsistent in his production this year. He’s had 20 or more points in eight games this season but has scored less than 10 the same number of times.

The Warriors can hold out hope for a solution, as they have tradeable young assets like Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, as well as veteran players on pricey contracts to match salaries in blockbuster deals, like Draymond Green. They even have two future first-round picks and even more second-round picks to sweeten those potential deals.

For the Lakers, however, their role players are on minimum contracts and undesirable because of their lacklustre performances. With only one tradeable first-round pick in 2029, their only hope is convincing a team to take D’Angelo Russell and a few role players in exchange for a star adept at shooting from three-point range, but this would likely cost them their home-grown undrafted star scorer, Austin Reaves.

Californian basketball is still some of the best in the NBA, as the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers continue to have impressive regular seasons, but the biggest names in the state have an arduous path in front of them if they want to play deep into May and June.

The Warriors can hold out hope for a solution, as they have bartering power in the form of young assets like Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, as well as veteran players on pricey contracts to match salaries in blockbuster deals, like Draymond Green. They even have two future first-round picks and even more second-round picks to sweeten those potential deals.

For the Lakers, however, their role players are on minimum contracts and don’t hold much value on the trade market because of their lacklustre performances. With only one tradeable first-round pick in 2029, their only hope is convincing a team to take D’Angelo Russell and a few role players in exchange for a star adept at shooting from three-point range, but this would likely cost them their home-grown undrafted star scorer, Austin Reaves.