The Los Angeles Lakers were a mess long before LeBron James

The Los Angeles Lakers have constantly felt like a trainwreck over the last year, which has caused some fans to point the finger at LeBron James.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been anything but the historic franchise that has won 16 rings over the last season. Everything about the Lakers has made the team feel like a laughing stock, something Laker fans are not used to dealing with.

Just think about what has happened over the last year. The team whiffed on Paul George, the star that had the closest ties to the team and appeared to be a bonafide lock to sign.

Following that the front office let both Julius Randle and Brook Lopez walk for free, then instead signing one-year veterans that really didn’t add much to the team other than depth.

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Trade talks for Anthony Davis blew up in the team’s face and leaked trade talks seemed to create more bad than good for the Lakers, who understandably likely had more tension in the locker room as a result.

The team didn’t make the playoffs, despite having the talent to do so and undoubtedly being more talented than the Cleveland Cavaliers team that made the NBA Finals a year ago. And to cap it all off, Magic Johnson quit his job in a way that only Magic Johnson could do: having an impromptu press conference without telling his boss.

All of these things have happened after the team signed LeBron James, who has taken most of the blame. There is always a media whirlwind that follows James wherever he goes and his track record makes him an easy target for blame.

It doesn’t help that James is starting projects outside of basketball that seemingly is taking some of his attention away from what is happening on the court. While it would be unfair to say that concretely, it has been an area of criticism for James.

And while he certainly deserves some of the blame as he is the face of the team after all, the Lakers are not a mess just because LeBron James is on the roster. As hard of a pill as it is to swallow, the Lakers have been a mess long before James joined the team.

Heck, the team has been a mess since the last few years of Kobe Bryant, which extends past this current playoff drought.

Just look at the Kobe, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash experiment. That was a team that should have been able to make some serious noise and drastically underperformed. Granted, Bryant was injured for the postseason, but it is not like the team was doing great prior to his injury.

That partnership was a mess and the Kobe-Howard dynamic really is what started to send Howard down the path that he is at now.

The team then overpaid Bryant at the end of his career as a move of loyalty, making it near impossible to build anything remotely close to successful. With no real young chips on the table, Bryant and a supporting cast of G Leaguers put together some of the worst years in team history.

It was not until recently that the Lakers were able to get some young assets and start looking towards the future. And while 2018 was a step backward, there is still promise that the Los Angeles Lakers can make improvements.

It wasn’t just Bryant, though, as the front office made some terrible contract signings. The contracts given out to Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng should go down as two of the worst contracts of all-time.

It was these contracts that restricted the Lakers from adding stars earlier and forced the team’s hand to get rid of D’Angelo Russell. Deng is still being paid by the Lakers as well, although his stretch provision made it easier to handle in the salary cap.

That is what led to Mitch Kupchak to be fired and owner Jim Buss even resigned as President of Basketball Operations so Jeannie Buss could hire Magic for that role. Family drama is never good, especially when it is in an NBA front office.

Simply put, the Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the worst-run teams in the NBA over the last decade. The team hit the absolute mountaintop in 2010 with its second consecutive NBA Championship and 16th overall.

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And ever since the franchise has been plummeting down like a roller coaster drop, with every fan having to feel the aches and pains attached. This is not a LeBron James problem. It is a Los Angeles Lakers problem.

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