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The Los Angeles Lakers may have finally broken a three-year trend of setting a new low for worst overall record in franchise history with a 26-56 campaign, but their season was hardly a soaring success, either.
The Lakers finished with their worst defensive rating (113) in franchise history (the stat wasn’t kept until 1950), and fell well short of contending for a postseason slot after their 10-10 start made the team appear to be at least competitive.
The year might have been more tumultuous off the court than it was on. The team can now put up a sign that says they’ve gone one year without a Snapchat-related scandal, but between firing their general manager and vice president of basketball operations and a failed coup that led to an inter-family restraining order, the Lakers’ certainly weren’t bereft of drama.
TNT knows drama, and Inside the NBA poked fun at the Lakers’ drama in their annual exercise of sending every team eliminated from the postseason on a proverbial fishing trip with a photoshopped image.
This season’s Lakers’ entry DID NOT disappoint:
The Los Angeles Lakers have officially ‘Gone fishin’#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/HuHGeKzq3s
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) April 17, 2017
From the D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram barely hanging on to the shipwreck of the good ship Showtime, to Jim Buss being about to be attacked by a shark, to the Death Star and Godzilla attacking for some reason, there are a ton of Hollywood/Lakers-related goodies in here. It’s like a “Where’s Waldo” of ineptitude.
How does it compare to past years? You be the judge.
2015-16:
Yup, here's @NBAonTNT's Gone Fishin' on the #Lakers: pic.twitter.com/49rYh61dy2
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 18, 2016
2014-15:
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Never forget that Nick Young prominently featured in two of the Lakers’ Gone Fishin’ graphics. Other than his missed 3-point celebration, that may ultimately be the perfect Lakers legacy for Swaggy-P if he leaves the team this summer.
For those of you mad at TNT but that still made it this far, don’t worry, because no one got got as badly as the tire-fire New York Knicks got got:
Is this the best Gone Fishin in Inside the NBA history? Yes. Yes, it is. pic.twitter.com/2J8kD6sENG
— Dave Schilling (@dave_schilling) April 17, 2017
I can’t stop laughing at Kristaps:
@hmfaigen pic.twitter.com/R6fIsEr8KD
— Dave Schilling (@dave_schilling) April 17, 2017
That is just amazing. Poor Kristaps.
For Lakers fans, at least take solace that this might be the last year the franchise is truly embarrassing on the court for large chunks of the season. Here’s to competence in 2017.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.