It’s safe to say no Lakers fan will ever name the 2021-22 version as their favorite iteration of the team. But is this the least-liked version ever?
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At the time of this story publishing, the Lakers just dropped their last two games, and eight of their last 10. They haven’t won more than one game in a row since Jan. 7, and are only clinging on to ninth place in the Western Conference by the sheer virtue of how bad the teams behind them are. At 29-39, they’re only one game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans (28-40) for the 10th and final spot in the play-in tournament.
So, yes, it’s safe to say this Lakers team is bad, and on track to be one of the worst in the franchise’s storied history. With 14 games left to play, they’ve already lost more than all but 16 teams in the franchise’s 74-year history, and are within range to pass most of them if they continue to lose like they have lately. They literally cannot lose enough games to finish with a worse record than the worst Lakers team of all time — the 17-65, 2015-16 Lakers are “safe” for that ignominious distinction — but these guys still could theoretically pass all but the five worst Lakers teams ever if they lose out.
Perhaps most damningly, though, is the reality that this preseason pick for title contention has already lost more games (39) than the 2012-13 Lakers (37), the previous, near-consensus pick for the most hated Laker team of all time by their own fanbase.
So even if these Lakers won’t finish as the worst iteration of the purple and gold ever, it is fair to wonder if they are the least-liked by their own fanbase, especially when considering that they are not just bad, but appear to have little-to-no pride and may have given up entirely on trying to right the ship.
That “Is this your least favorite Lakers team ever” is a legitimate question is a sign of how poorly this season has gone compared to preseason expectations, but it seems to be a common sentiment among enough Lakers fans I’ve interacted with that I wanted to pose the question to all of you in our latest SB Nation Reacts poll. So let us know what you think in the poll below, and feel free to give your reasoning in the comments. We’ll post the results for discussion later this week.
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