"Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is unlikely to play Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources told ESPN.

It would give James, who missed Sunday's game with foot soreness, eight days in between games if he returns Sunday against Memphis.

Because of the NBA Cup, the Lakers are able to take a prudent approach with the schedule to allow James to recalibrate and recharge his body."

"L.A. plays just two games in a 10-day stretch Dec. 9-18 -- coach JJ Redick gave the entire team Monday off and designated Tuesday as an optional "get what you need" day.

Redick met with many of the Lakers' players individually Tuesday, but James was not present, the coach said Wednesday."

"In game, he's asked for a sub a couple times because he's gassed," Redick said Wednesday. "For us, we have to be cognizant as we play more and more games, just the cumulative effect of playing a lot of minutes, and Sunday, being banged up with the foot thing, it felt like a good opportunity for him to get some rest."

Damn

"It's been interesting to me, Darvin Ham took a lot of s--- last year," another Western Conference scout told ESPN. "I think now you're seeing like, 'Oh, maybe it wasn't Darvin. Maybe it's the f---ing roster.'"

espn.com/nba/story/_/id/42933812/the-three-biggest-reasons-lebron-los-angeles-lakers-flailing-west

"They weren't even trying," one Western Conference scout, who reviewed film from the L.A.-Miami game, told ESPN of the Lakers.

"The Lakers play with zero physicality," he said. "It's easy to get transition baskets. It's easy to score via pick-and-rolls. It's easy to post up and cut for easy baskets. Everything is just easy."

"When asked about L.A.'s pick-and-roll defense against Miami, and against the Wolves in the game that preceded it when the Lakers lost by 29 points, Redick was direct as he exhumed the defeats.

"Did not execute our switches, were not physical, did not communicate," Redick said Wednesday. "Communication was a big issue in Miami as well, no matter what we tried. Again, you can't play basketball and not talk. In terms of technique and schemes, if you don't talk, you're dead. In terms of tweaking stuff, we've done it. We've done it in coverage. We've done it with 1 through 5, and we've done it being physical. We've done it talking, so that's what we have to do. We can make adjustments on that. If you're not talking and you're not competing, you can't really make adjustments."

"As rough as the half court has been, the open court has been even worse. L.A. is 29th in transition defense, allowing 1.44 points per possession. The Lakers have also had to defend the sixth-most transition possessions per game in the league this season.

Part of that problem can be linked to effort. They have had a man advantage when defending a transition possession just 44% of the time this season -- the fifth-lowest rate in the league -- meaning there aren't enough players wearing purple and gold sprinting back to protect their basket."

"Honestly, they need what everybody wants," one of the West scouts told ESPN. "It's that versatile wing defender that can guard 2 through 4 and then can make an open 3. Your Mikal Bridges, your OG Anunoby, those type of players. And those guys, either: One, aren't available; or two, if they are available, they're not cheap, they're at a premium. Everybody in the NBA wants guys like that."

"AD and LeBron need consistency from the rest of the group," the East exec said.

"The only guy that they rely on is Austin. He finally got to the point of not deferring to those guys. The rest of the group should follow suit.

Too many guys don't know how to play with them because they feel like they need to just give AD and LeBron the ball and wait for a pass. They end up forcing shots late-clock because that is when they get the ball."

"If Austin Reaves is your third-best player -- and I love Austin, I think he's a very good basketball player -- but if he's your third-best player, you're not a championship contender, you're just not," one of the West scouts told ESPN.

"If you put Austin Reaves on the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Boston Celtics, he's probably the fifth-, maybe even sixth-best player, on those rosters."

Or perhaps its both

Real Lakers fans who actually pay attention to the team knew from the beginning it was (and still is) a multi faceted problem

Why do people in the media and fans online act intentionally dense when it comes to a***yzing the Lakers

because they don't really watch the games like us

We're fans so we see the small nuances of the team and have a better insight into everything.

100%

We need to go back to the motion offense that we had.

We went away from that and started giving Lebron the ball to get him out of his slump.

We also need to stop switching everything constantly. I don't know if it's completely Nate's idea but JJ needs to make it stop.

We just gotta stay afloat in the standings until Rob makes a trade and fixes the roster.

"Most connected names to LA are Jonas and Walker Kessler.

Lakers could also look for a guard in talks with Washington and Utah.

Sexton/Kessler package or Brogdon/Jonas package is possible."

via Jake Fischer

Austin Reaves on missing 5 games: "I was pissed, to be honest. I kind of wanted to keep that streak going. Just want to be available to get on the court every single night with the guys and go and compete. But you find the positives in everything and and one of those was to take a week.”

Before the 5-game absence, Austin Reaves played in 129 straight regular-season games from Feb. 7, 2023-Nov. 29 -- not including 21 playoff games, 2 Play-In Tournament games and the 2023 NBA Cup title game.

league employees pretending darvin ham is/was a good coach for us and in general

cracks me up how the league is just a giant fraternity club where they protect one another from rightful criticism, one of the reasons a bum like doc rivers is still in the league or a piece of s*** like miles bridges

Tbh, a lot of coaches will do better with better players