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The Los Angeles Lakers are 1-6 over their last seven games, have fallen to sixth place in the Western Conference since LeBron James and Anthony Davis returned to their lineup, and are in danger to dropping to a play-in game that James hates the idea of so much he called for heads to roll at the league office over it’s inception.
So yeah. Things are not going well in Laker Land.
But whether it’s because Davis is struggling while trying to regain his rhythm, a curse from a missing catfish or a lack of chemistry and cohesion due to all the injuries and absences the team has had this year — or maybe some combination of all of the above — Davis is confident that things have to get better for the Lakers from here.
He’s so confident that things will improve, in fact, that after the team lost to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night — their third straight defeat — he became the person in a corny romantic comedy who says “at least things can’t get any worse” before a spontaneous thunderstorm drenches them as they walk home from work:
"This is the lowest we've been in a while. At least in the last two years. ... But the only way is up. We really can't get any lower than this." -- Anthony Davis
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 3, 2021
Since Davis said that, it’s been reported that Dennis Schröder will miss at least the next 10-14 days in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and that LeBron James will miss at least the team’s next game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday with continuing soreness in his ankle.
Now, obviously none of that is Davis’ fault, but it does illustrate that things can certainly get lower than this for the purple and gold. We’ll find out exactly how much worse for sure when they host the Nuggets tonight.
Put this season in rice.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.