Lakers Loss to Jazz Reinforces Need for Frontcourt Help

At the trade deadline the Lakers made one of the biggest decisions in recent NBA history. They moved heaven and Earth, not to mention future hall of famer Anthony Davis, in order to bring in Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. Pairing the sharpshooter with LeBron James seemed like a match made in heaven, allowing them to cement their present and future in one fell swoop.

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

However, while the trade had a lot of upside, not everything is rosy either. Landing Doncic came at a steep cost; mainly size, physicality, and the ability to rebound. The team was already getting out-muscled down low, and without Davis the problem is only going to get worse.

Doncic is a bonafide superstar. He’s an incredible talent who can score, pass, and defend in a variety of ways. He’s also not very large. Losing their main big man has left Los Angeles susceptible down by the basket. Scoring in droves is a good way to mitigate such issues, but if shots aren’t falling things can go south quickly.

That was certainly the case in their recent loss to the Jazz.

Small of Stature

LA has two of the best players in the NBA on their roster. The Jazz are a floundering team almost thirty games under .500. Playing them for the second time in three days, it seemed like the Lakers were on their way to another easy win.

Unfortunately for the road team, that wasn’t the case. The Lakers played hard, and mounted a late comeback, but ultimately lost the first three quarters on their way to a disappointing 131-119 defeat. While losing happens in the NBA, and one isn’t a big deal, it was how LA lost that raises some concerns going forward.

The biggest is their size

The team simply doesn’t have a true center right now. While James is one of the strongest players around, he lacks the build and play style needed to lock down the paint like a true five can.

Against the Jazz, the Lakers were outscored 54-36 down low. That’s a large deficiency in a conference full of great big men, and something they need to figure out soon. While their trade for Mark Williams would have fixed the issue, the Lakers scrapped it for medical reasons.

That decision now leaves them severely lacking around the basket. The Jazz bullied LA all night, which is what teams with much more capable frontcourts will do in the future as well.

A Lack of Options

Currently, the Lakers can rely on either Jaxson Hayes or Alex Len to anchor their team. Hayes left the Jazz game after just seven minutes with a facial contusion, and Len put up a rather mediocre four points and seven rebounds on 2-of-5 shooting.

That does not inspire a lot of confidence, especially seeing as both players are going to have guard superstars like Nikola Jokic at some point in the future. Len did play more than intended, but he didn’t do much with a prime opportunity against a lackluster team.

“I thought [Len] was fine,” explained head coach J.J Redick. “It just feels like it’s been a lot of that this year, where we’ve had to put guys in tough spots, we’ve had to put our two-way guys in tough spots, we had to put Alex in a tough spot. He was fine.”

Unfortunately, for a team who went all in like the Lakers did, fine is not going to be enough. James can attack the rim on offense, and his defense is still quite strong, but opponents can simply go over the top of the current LA roster.

One Clear Issue

The Lakers have had a strong run as of late, winning six of their last seven, before the Jazz loss. While Doncic brings a lot to the team, and undoubtedly cements the Lakers future, they only have James for so much time before he retires.

In that way, they hope the deal will bring them one more ring

While it could, the way they crumbled against Utah revealed many issues hiding behind their shiny exterior. The most concerning being that Jazz center Walker Kessler had 16 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting along with eight rebounds and six blocks.

Kessler is not a bad player, but that statline is far above his average for the season. The Lakers didn’t have an answer for him, which means they are going to have even less answers for the likes of Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama.

At the current juncture, it seems it would be best if they go all-in on offense and try to run opposing teams off the court. That strategy might not always work, but if they can out-shoot their opponents they could easily get to the postseason and let their high-end talent take over.

Barring another buyout, there’s no help coming

The above names could very easily take over a seven game series if LA isn’t careful.  Los Angeles could also score so many points that it won’t matter.

Regardless of what ends up happening, they need to cement their frontcourt rotation. If they don’t, it’s hard to see them going on a deep run down the line.