Lakers Find a Scapegoat for Woeful Season

Basketball people can’t stop talking about the Los Angeles Lakers and their scapegoat.

Nina Hsieh.

The franchise didn’t renew her contract after the season. Dave McMenamin from ESPN confirmed the news. The Lakers struggled with injuries and failed to make the NBA Finals.

Well, the problem goes way beyond these injuries. Rob Pelinka made some decisions in the offseason, and these changes didn’t work well for the team.

LeBron James missed 27 games in the regular season due to a high ankle sprain. He suffered his injury in March and returned from the injury for a couple of games in late April. The four-time NBA champion sat out again because of his ailment. The Lakers had LeBron on the field for the final two regular-season games before being eliminated by the Phoenix Suns. LeBron was averaging 23.0 points, 8.0 assists, and 7.2 rebounds.

Anthony Davis had to deal with a bigger problem. He suffered a calf injury and it was related to his Achilles tendon. LA was really careful with Davis’ injury. He missed a lot of games since February.

AD came back in mid-April and rounded into form by the end of the regular season. He suffered a groin strain and played just five minutes in the final two games against the Suns. He missed 36 games.

NBA analysts wouldn’t put the blame on the Lakers scapegoat

Dennis Schroder missed 11 games due to health and safety protocols. Marc Gasol missed nine games and Alex Caruso missed five. Alfonzo McKinnie was out for a game. Athletic trainers can’t be held responsible for these absences.

LeBron and AD were injured but the other 10 rotation players missed 31 games due to injuries. LA ranks as 14th fewest, putting the team in the top half of the league despite having 72 games between the end of the last season and the start of the 2020-21 season.

It looks like Hsieh will have to take the fall for the failure. A source close to the situation says that the team liked her and she was a fan-favorite.

“You have to read between the lines a little,” the source said. “Look at what happened the last time LeBron got hurt. You know, teams like to have stability with trainers and equipment people, things like that. That’s not been the case since LeBron got there. Not to say it is his fault, but they’re obviously struggling with that issue.”