The Los Angeles Lakers have completely bottomed out over the past couple of weeks. They’re (1-9) in their last 10 games and are (14-23) overall.
There’s been speculation the Lakers are tanking in order to land a top pick in this loaded draft, which features Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and etc.
Lakers general manager is completely against tanking:
There is no way to believe that a team would, on purpose, do a terrible job in the summer and a terrible job in the draft because they want to lose games the next season. Now, I’m sure once the season begins and things go or don’t go your way, the speculation as to what may happen if things continue may arise. We’ve been through years like that, and there’s never been a discussion in midseason in this building where ownership would say, “It’s best to lose.” That’s never taken place. Now, I don’t even know how you convey that message to the coach if it were the goal. Coaches are defined by their record; it’s intuitive that they do not want to lose. It’s inconceivable to me that a general manager would try to convey that message to anybody. So it’s never happened here and it never will. It’s the worst message you can ever give to anybody.
Mitch Kupchak is 100 percent right. The Lakers players aren’t tanking, they just don’t have the talent required to win on a consistent basis.