A few days ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were officially eliminated from the playoffs. The team that eliminated them were the Brooklyn Nets, led by former Laker D'Angelo Russell. The same player the Lakers traded, because they thought he wasn't a leader. Huh! Looks like he's a leader in Brooklyn. 

         The season began with the NBA's worst kept secret coming to fruition. LeBron James was leaving his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers for the glitz and glamour of the Los Angeles Lakers. The fans in L.A. were jumping for joy and thinking of more championships on the team's mantle. Their other free agent signings were not great, but I kind of get what they were trying to do. Nothing against JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley, who is no longer with the team. Their young core of Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball seemed to be a perfect complement for LeBron to mentor, and eventually, they will mesh well. So it was a good situation for the Lakers going into this season.

           Here's where it begins: everyone knew when LeBron signed with the Lakers, it was going to be LeBron's team. Everything that the Lakers will do for years on in is going to have LeBron's fingerprints all over them. Look at the Cavaliers right now. They are now buried in the luxury tax for many seasons to come due to the transactions influenced by LeBron. Magic Johnson is saying the right things, but with egos like LeBron and Magic, you know it will eventually blow up due to this. Then there's the organization throwing coach Luke Walton under the bus. Yes, I know Walton hasn't lived up to expectations, but c'mon? We know he will get the ax at the end of the season and the next head coach will probably be more to LeBron's liking.

       Then there is the Anthony Davis saga. Davis' agent stated that his client wanted out of New Orleans and it was the Lakers that was right for the picking, because LeBron really wanted AD in L.A. The problem was that they were publicly shopping their young core for Davis, which rubbed people the wrong way. A lot of "experts" who praised LeBron in Cleveland were chastising him for throwing teammates under the bus and questioning his leadership skills. I am doing this now, and I'm not an expert. One of the players mentioned in the failed trade was Lonzo Ball, which drew the ire of....oh, god...Lonzo's father, LaVar. He stated that his son should be traded to the Suns, which actually makes sense. Have you seen the point guards on the Suns lately? 

      Coupled with losses to lesser teams, the Lakers' season has been deemed a disappointment by many. For a team that gets a lot of attention because of their history, many believe it is a complete failure. I, myself am not a Lakers fan, but it was what I expected. LeBron is a player who can easily transform a franchise by myself. When he went back to Cleveland in 2014, the Cavs had a rising superstar in Kyrie Irving and traded for Kevin Love. The Lakers could still get AD and I expect it to happen, so Lakers fans shouldn't worry. The young trio who could break up if the Lakers trade for AD has promise. Kuzma is clearly the best player of the group. Ingram shows flashes of his potential, but he's not ready yet. Ball also shows flashes of potential, if he can stay healthy. The Lakers will be a playoff team going forward, but people will look back at this season as being drama filled and not expectations.

You knew this was coming.

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