Reacts: This Lakers season is beyond saving

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When the front office followed up their trade deadline inaction with effectively zero action in the buyout market, it became abundantly clear that the towel had been thrown in on this Lakers season. A constant wave of injuries never allowed the team to get fully healthy this season, let alone allow the team’s Big Three to see consistent minutes on the floor together.

Even then, the flaws of the roster ran so deep and the Lakers trade assets ran so thin that even a flurry of trade deadline moves wouldn’t have saved the team from its seemingly inevitable fate. The last hope was that the Lakers, with speculation of whether they would be staying or going behind them, could rally together to make one last push to end the season.

That push has never come with the team having lost eight of their last 10 games after falling to San Antonio on Monday. Prompted with the question of whether this Lakers season can be saved, our latest SB Nations reacts survey laid out the grim outlook on the remainder of the season.

The only realistic way to salvage the Lakers season is for Anthony Davis to come back in time for the Lakers to hang onto a play-in spot and then, with James and Davis healthy once more, go on a run in the playoffs.

It’s a very, very, very ambitious outlook for a team that has had two winning streaks of three games or more with one of those coming in late October and early November of last year. The Lakers have provided little reason for optimism this year and most fans are ready for this season to be over and for the memories of it to be wiped away.

Salvaging it is something that feels impossible not just to the fans, but the front office as well based on the lack of transactions in-season.

THOSE guys are good again? Ugh

On top of this Lakers season blowing up in spectacular fashion down the stretch, the Celtics appear to be trending upward with the playoffs nearing. Since Jan. 29, the Celtics are 14-2 with wins over Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Memphis in that span.

They’ve played their way back into a race for home court in the Eastern Conference as they current sit in the fifth seed but are just two games out of the second seed. The result is most fans seeing Boston as a contender in a wide open East.

The solace in all this for Lakers fans? Well, Boston is doing all of it with a star player in Jayson Tatum that so badly wants to be a Laker. Whether he’s donning a Lakers jersey in an NBA commercial or talking about hating the Celtics and loving the Lakers growing up, Tatum has made it pretty clear that, deep down, he prefers purple and gold over that ugly green.

See you in free agency in 2025, Jayson!

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