The Los Angeles Lakers joined the Philadelphia 76ers as the first teams to reach 0-2 on the young season.
Golden State pulled away with a strong second half in the Lakers’ first game and the Clippers held on late on the backs of their stars.
For the Lakers, poor shooting was the storyline in both contests.
It was a seemingly inevitable storyline for a team that added little shooting this off-season.
Their “Big 3” of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook was all set to return.
And high-volume perimeter shooting is a must to allow those three to function as efficiently as possible.
Instead, they brought in players who were poor shooters or shot at low volume.
So far, the Lakers have got what they paid for this off-season.
Lakers Have No Shooting
Game one against the Warriors was not ideal.
The Lakers went 10-40 from deep, led by James and Kendrick Nunn hitting three a piece.
Game two against the Clippers was somehow worse.
LA shot 9-45 (20%) from three and 33-94 (35.1%) from the field.
Westbrook, Nunn, and Patrick Beverley were the prime culprits as they shot a combined 1-25 from the field.
Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn shot 1-25 FG COMBINED! 🤮 pic.twitter.com/4h79T1RG3l
— Basketball Forever (@Bballforeverfb) October 21, 2022
The formula for winning with LeBron James has always been fairly straightforward.
Surround him with plenty of shooting and let him spray passes to open shooters after collapsing the defense.
When you have Westbrook (0-11), Nunn (0-7), and Beverley (1-7) going 1-25, it severely hampers James’ effectiveness.
The Lakers will need to acquire better perimeter shooting if they want to have any chance this season.
NEXT: LeBron James Has A Message About Russell Westbrook