The 2022-23 season was a tale of two halves for the Los Angeles Lakers. They got off to one of the worst starts in franchise history and looked destined to miss the playoffs.
However, Los Angeles managed to turn things around post-trade deadline and make an improbable run to the Western Conference Finals. Rob Pelinka made savvy moves to put together a balanced roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who continue to show they are superstars when healthy.
The Lakers’ front office continued their great work this offseason when they brought back key pieces like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell while also adding some quality players like Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and Christian Wood.
Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss gave an in-depth review of the current state of the team during an appearance on The Athletic NBA Show:
“Yeah, I mean last season started off really tough. We had a brand new coach, we were in 2-10 or 2-11, I think and it was…I was like, I’m not gonna survive this. This is gonna be really rough if this what our season’s gonna be. And I was getting death threats, it was not fun. We had a little bit of a bright spot watching LeBron break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record which I was there when Kareem set that record. And I’ll never forget Chick Hearn saying, ‘This is a record that will never broken.’ And the idea that it was broken in my lifetime by another person wearing a Laker uniform meant the world to me. But it really was a testament to LeBron and his longevity in this league and his resiliency that he performs at such a high level year after year.
“Once we were close to the trade deadline and the moves that were made, LeBron was nursing an injury and had been kind of shut down. And then something just clicked with the team and Anthony Davis being healthy. There’s an argument to be made that he was the best player in the NBA when he was playing at that level. And we got a chance to be in the Play-In and then LeBron comes back and it was a lot of fun to beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
“Then we lost to Denver who ended up winning the championship, and getting to the Western Conference Finals that was pretty good. But the key, our whole plan this offseason was to keep the continuity. To build on the momentum that had been created and yeah, we lost Dennis Schroder who I think Darvin Ham was really instrumental in him coming back to the Lakers because he’d already been a Laker and it didn’t go well. And Darvin really believed in him and I think that’s really shown how he played at the World Cup. Now he’s a Toronto Raptor, but being able to pick up somebody like Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and our draft picks, it’s exciting and even like Max Christie who really shined at Summer League really kind of continuing to blossom. And of course Austin Reaves has been a really great success story considering he wasn’t drafted and came to us as a free agent.
“So there’s a lot of good things to look forward to but you know what? Who’s not going to make the playoffs in the West? I mean, who do you eliminate? Everybody’s competitive in our conference. I think even Houston who has been at the bottom, they’re kind of turning things around bringing in a new coach and some veterans to play with the young guys. It’s going to be really tough, so we got our work cut out for us.”
Buss’ recount of the season shows she was fully invested in the team’s performance, though she and the rest of the fanbase have to be happy with how things turned out. The continuity portion is particularly interesting as she and the front office were aligned in that aspect, especially when it came to Davis’ extension.
The new season brings plenty of opportunities and hopefully Los Angeles does Buss proud by advancing farther than they did last year.
Jeanie Buss details what season 2 of ‘Winning Time’ has done well
Off the court, fans have been treated to another exciting season of HBO’s ‘Winning Time.’ Buss has been enjoying watching the show and she detailed what the current season has done well.
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