Problems in LaLa Land?

It's no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the premiere sports franchise out there today. That gets magnified even more when they have the best player in the game, Lebron James, playing in their lineup. With that comes some pretty lofty expectations. But over the past ten days, things haven't been looking too good for the boys out in Hollywood. Some of it started to stem after Tuesday nights loss to the Atlanta  Hawks, but some may have been brewing even before that.

Lets back track a little bit. Lets go back to last Thursday, a thrilling 120-128 win over the Celtics in Boston, a game that at the time, pout LA a game over .500. This was a game after they got blown out by 42 points by the Pacers, the worst loss of LeBron's career. The next two games after the win over Boston were a 23 point loss to the Sixers and a four point loss to the Hawks. There was the highly publicized calling out of players by coach Luke Walton. It happened after a Saturday night loss earlier this month to the Warriors. After the game, several Lakers players and coach Luke Walton reportedly got in a verbal altercation, after Walton criticized their selfish play in the defeat.

At one point during this recent stretch for the Lakers, Lebron was shown sitting apart from his teammates on the bench. The King, at one point, even set off understandably touchy Lakers fans by saying, “There’s nothing I need to get in this league that I don’t already have. Everything else for me is just like icing on the cake.” Talk about taking a pot shot. All this is just the tip of the iceberg for what has been a real struggle for LA. They've now lost four of their last five games and eight of the last eleven.

There's a couple of different angles to look at with this recent struggles.

I'm not saying the Lakers were a dominating threat in the West, at least not with the big contenders like the Warrios, Rockets and even Thunder. They were a team that was projected to at least be a playoff team, maybe middle to lower pack in the top eight in the Western Conference. Now they're a game under .500 and two and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the West as we near the All Star Break. But the fact that there's dissension amongst the Lakers ranks says a lot. The younger players aren't trusting of Luke Walton and what he wants to try running out West. When some of yor younger guys are starting to turn against you, that's a huge problem.

The other thing sticking out like a sore thumb is the whole LeBron storyline. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but the fact that he's standing by himself is slap in the face of the younger guys who really want to win. I get it. LeBron has pretty much done almost all their is to do in the sport. He's dominated the game like few others in basketball history have. But going out there and saying what he said to the press isn't the smartest idea in the world. I get it that this would be icing on the cake to win a title with the Lakers, if you can even do it with how loaded the West is. But maybe saying that isn't the smartest idea in the world.

Its not hard to see that LA is fading fast out west, and Lebron's answer to the press isn't helping matters much. He's only human and can only do so much. The young guns that the Lakers are trying to grow need to step their game up and give LeBron a little more support so it doesn't come off like he has to try and do everything himself. Hey, maybe LA can turn this thing around after the brak and make noise in the West. Even better, they could make more noise this summer and land Anthony Davis, who has said he wouldn't mind playing with LeBron in LA. Anything's possible.

First things first. If the Lakers want to stand any chance of doing anything. They need to get their minds right and get back on the same page and quickly.