They built *that* team around AD and LeBron?

Given one of the the best starting points in the league, they built that team.

It's easy to pile on the Lakers, who dropped to 24-25 on the season following last night's 105-87 loss to the Sixers. To be fair to them, they've had LeBron and AD both available for less than a third of their games so far this season. That played a factor last night, when LeBron James missed the game because of left knee soreness.

But that argument loses a little bit of steam when you realize that even with Davis and LeBron on the court the Lakers still have a negative (just barely) point differential, having been outscored in 956-955 in 423 minutes together.

Again, how do you start off with Anthony Davis and LeBron James and build that team around them? I think about that every time I watch the Lakers play. And last night, when AD was the best player on the floor and had 23/5 in the first half on 10-13 shooting (compared to 13 on 5-11 from Embiid), and yet the Sixers still held a six point lead at the break, it just hammered that point home.

Not only is Russell Westbrook actively making life more difficult for LeBron James when they share the court, but he's not even good enough at this stage of his career to help carry them when LeBron is out of the lineup, while eating up $44 million of cap space and having cost the Lakers KCP, Harrell and Kuzma in the process. It's just an unmitigated disaster of a team building self-own that almost everyone outside of LA saw coming.