SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers’ superteam might be done before it ever accomplished anything of note.
The team announced Thursday morning that LeBron James (left ankle soreness), Anthony Davis (right foot soreness) and Russell Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) will sit out the third-to-last game of the regular season against the Golden State Warriors. After getting eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday night, there’s nothing left for the Lakers (31-48) to strive for except avoiding their most dubious benchmarks.
Coach Frank Vogel went through a rundown of the injuries: “LeBron’s ankle is still not ready. He wouldn’t be playing if we weren’t eliminated. And Anthony’s plantar fasciitis is causing him to limp around out there. So he’ll be out tonight and day-to-day. And Russ, him dealing with a shoulder thing that’s been slowing him down, and we’re going to have him out tonight.”
Carmelo Anthony also missed Thursday’s game with a “stomach bug” that led him to miss a home game against New Orleans. Vogel said none of them have been ruled out for the remaining two games, at home against Oklahoma City on Friday night and at Denver on Sunday evening.
“We’re literally going to see how those guys are physically feeling tomorrow and make that call then,” he said. “And we do recognize it’s fan appreciation day so we want to make sure that our fans feel appreciated.”
If James, Davis and Westbrook don’t take the court together again, an increasingly likely possibility, the once-anticipated superstar team up will finish the year having played just 21 games together with an 11-10 record, and there’s serious doubt that the experiment will continue after a historical underwhelming campaign.
James missed his third consecutive game and his fifth in the past six since spraining his ankle on March 27. Davis played in the previous three games after missing 18 in a row, but he has visibly struggled with lingering soreness in his foot.
The most intriguing scratch is Westbrook, who played in 78 of the Lakers’ 79 previous games – his only absence coming the night before the trade deadline in February. He has averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists while shooting 44.4% from the field in his first season in L.A., which went so poorly that there is widespread speculation it will be his last.
The Lakers had high hopes for Westbrook when they traded for him last summer. General Manager Rob Pelinka described it as “an aggressive move that we felt bettered our probability to bring the 18th title to the Los Angeles Lakers.”
But injuries and poor chemistry troubled the arrangement from the start. The Lakers never were more than four games above .500 as James and Davis missed extensive time on the court with injuries, and Westbrook slumped in the middle of the season. The team also struggled with its rotation, trying 39 different starting lineups in its first 79 games and using two-way contract players and 10-day contract players as key pieces on the court.
In their 21 games, James, Davis and Westbrook had a minus-3.5 net rating. Their last, best shot at winning a needed game together came last Friday when they lost to the New Orleans Pelicans by three points.
Westbrook labored as much as anyone in the organization. He bristled at being benched in several instances by the coaching staff, and he acknowledged he was bothered by what he deemed “shaming” and harassment by fans, even in his home arena.
The 2017 MVP winner has had a rocky road the past few years, traded three times in three offseasons. Media reports have cited Houston and Charlotte as possible trade partners with the Lakers if the organization deems it necessary to move on.
On Tuesday night, Westbrook and Davis said they wished to give the superteam another go.
“When we put this team together, we had championship aspirations, and once again, injuries have gotten in the way of that,” Davis said. “I think you would love to see. I think the world would love to see. I think we would love to see what this team could be if we were healthy for the full 82. If that repeats next year, we have the same team, who knows?”
ARIZA WAIVED
Trevor Ariza’s first stint in L.A. ended with a championship. His return ended with three games to go in the regular season.
The Lakers waived Ariza, who will turn 37 in June, after he appeared in 24 games (11 starts) this season, averaging 4.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 19.3 minutes per game. Though the Lakers said early in the season they expected Ariza to be a critical piece, he never rose to that expectation. He was benched for 17 of his last 19 games.
Vogel said Ariza’s ankle surgery, which held him out until mid-December, threw his season off-course.
“The first half of the year he was either out or clearly trying to recover from that,” he said. “And as the season got towards the end, he felt like it was bothering him very minimally. But it did derail most of his season and his impact on our team this year, yes.”
Vogel said the Lakers could use the spot to look at G-League players before the season is out, but did not mention specific names.
Vogel also acknowledged Kendrick Nunn is unlikely to play in either of the remaining games. Nunn missed the entire regular season after suffering a bone bruise in the preseason.
“He’s a heck of a player and we definitely missed him,” he said. “But he just wasn’t able to get over the hump in terms of each time there was a ramp up, there was a reaction to his bone bruise and to the imaging for the injury. So it just didn’t play out. Injuries are a part of the game, can’t lose any sleep over it.”
