MY ACCOUNT
Playing a role in managing LeBron James’ legacy has contributed to this being the toughest season Frank Vogel has experienced as an NBA coach.
The Los Angeles Lakers have significantly underperformed in 2021-22 and sit 10th in the Western Conference – the final play-in spot – with eight regular season games to play.
Injuries have limited Anthony Davis to just 37 appearances, while LeBron James has missed 19 games and they have only played together 21 times. Russell Westbrook has also struggled to show why LA paid such a high price to acquire him from the Washington Wizards.
The Lakers were considered one of the favourites to win the championship this season but are in very real danger of missing out on the playoffs entirely.
Although Davis, who has been out with a foot injury since February 16, was a full participant in Monday’s practice, James sat out due to an ankle injury sustained in Sunday’s defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans – a game in which the Lakers blew a 23-point lead.
Vogel felt the injury situation was typical of the team’s season and cited having a part to play in ensuring James enjoys a strong finish to his career as a factor in making it so tough for him to navigate.
Asked if it had been his hardest year as a coach, Vogel replied: “I would say probably, just because of the expectations we’ve had.
“We’ve had too many really difficult nights and I think there’s an element of being a part of managing LeBron’s legacy in these final years of his career.
“You wanna just give him the best opportunity to have team success throughout that, so when we haven’t won at the level that we wanted to it’s been challenging. And the losses have been heavier. But we’ve been able to continue to mend and rebuild our team psyche and keep a belief in what we can be. Obviously this last injury [to James] hurts that.
“But we had a good day today. We came in and we got really positive feedback and work on our film session, had a live practice session which we haven’t had in quite some time, and hopefully we can still get a W tomorrow [Tuesday, against the Dallas Mavericks] and finish strong.”
