Los Angeles Lakers: The Plague

Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

I honestly can’t remember the last time the Los Angeles Lakers were so injury prone. Left and right the Lakers began dropping like flies and it seemed like there had been an omen of bad luck from the start of this horrifying season. Out of the 14 players that began the season on the roster only 4 have been available for every game this season. At one point this season the Lakers only had 8 available players for a game. Just recently the Lakers ran out of players after Center Robert Sacre fouled out and the team had no more options on their bench. In turn, the refs allowed Sacre to stay in the game, but the Lakers would have to receive a technical foul for every foul committed by Sacre. That is just one example of this injury plagued season, and it continues to get worse and worse.

Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

Just when the Lakers thought they couldn’t have a worse season than they had last year, with all the on the court drama, confusion in the front office and commotion in the locker room, the Lakers experienced the “season from hell”. As former Laker Center Dwight Howard said, “The Lakers were in a nightmare that they just couldn’t wake up from”. But then came along the 2013-14 season and it has rendered some of the worst basketball in Laker history.

First, Steve Nash went down and he is still suffering from a nerve injury he suffered a year ago in Portland. That was not a really big hit to the Lakers though. The problems came when both Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar were out for an extended amount of games. The Lakers were literally without a Point Guard on their roster. But along came Kobe Bryant who returned Laker Nation with high spirits and hopes and expectations.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

But after 6 games Kobe would be sidelined even to this present day with a hairline fracture in his left knee. So a glorious return cut short by another basically season ending injury. This was probably the most devastating and lowest point of the season. After Kobe went down the Lakers began dropping like flies. Pau Gasol went down and has continued to be in and out of the lineup with multiple injuries. Xavier Hnery went down, Farmar, Blake and Nick Young all went down. The list goes on and on. It’s like there was something infecting and spreading in the locker room, determined to make the Lakers spend a majority of their season in the doctors office. And just to top it off, the Lakers have had a league leading total of 200 plus missed games this season due to injury.

But there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s always some silver lining in every catastrophic and disastrous event. Number one is Kendall Marshall, who has made his name known throughout Laker Nation and is proving himself to be a formidable point guard, great passer and a very nice offensive talent with a high level skill set. Number two is the Lakers have a chance to get a very high draft pick in a draft that has been rumored to be the best since the 2003 draft in which LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh were drafted.

So the Lakers, even in this tumultuous season, have the opportunity to turn it around and begin anew in the off-season. Let’s hope that the front office can make moves that put the Lakers in optimal position to win again.