Insider Issues Strong Warning to ‘Vulnerable’ Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers play without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Newly-signed veteran Andre Drummond missed three games right after his signing. The team is plagued with injuries. LA entered the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference. They dropped to the fifth seed. An NBA insider talked about the team and issued a warning for the vulnerable Lakers team.

Chris Haynes from Yahoo Sports said the Lakers were “vulnerable.” He said that the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets will challenge the team. According to Haynes, the Lakers have to be careful in games against “young legs” in the playoffs.

“I feel like the Lakers are vulnerable for all the things you just mentioned, particularly them [Anthony Davis and LeBron James] coming back at the tail end of the season, trying to carry a team,” Haynes noted on the Posted Up podcast. “And not just coming back and being able to coast, they’re coming back with meaningful games. When they get back in the season, these are meaningful games. They got to make some ground up in these standings, and maybe they feel, I don’t know, maybe LeBron and A.D. feel like, ‘Man, look, I don’t care if we are seventh or eighth [seed]. Man, I’ll take down Utah. I’ll take down Denver.’ I just think with those young legs that Utah, Denver and Phoenix has, I just don’t think that’s a good combination for the Lakers, I don’t.”

A stern warning for the Lakers

Haynes is worried about the ramp-up period both AD and LeBron could need after recovering from their serious injuries. LA is the No.5 seed in the West.

Marc Stein from the New York Times said there’s hope for AD to return after the road trip.

“There is some hope within the organization that he will return to the lineup after the Lakers’ five-game Eastern Conference swing underway, but any injury that involves the Achilles’ tendon, no matter how purportedly mild, is going to spook people until Davis gets back on the floor,” Stein explained. “Achilles’ tendon injuries remain the most feared in the sport.”

Things took an unexpected turn for the Lakers. Frank Vogel is confident about the team. He is working with two new guys. Drummond and Ben McLemore joined LA at the right time. Jared Dudley says LeBron and AD would return by the end of this month. LeBron predicted a thunderstorm. Simple as that.