The 2014/15 Los Angeles Lakers season is ending exactly how it started: injuries.
Prior to taking the flight to Sacramento late Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that Dwight Buycks had suffered a fracture in his third metacarpal and would be out for the remainder of the season. The point guard was on a 10-day contract that expired on Sunday night, and the severity of the injury meant that the 26-year-old would likely not be re-signed. Buycks wore a troubled expression as he sat at a locker with a nameplate that read "Lakers" in white lettering placed against a purple backdrop.
Previously, Steve Nash had occupied the same locker, and ultimately, the story of the 2014/15 Lakers starts and ends at that locker. Starting with Nash, the Lakers have had nine players on their roster be labeled as "out for the season." In order, the Lakers have lost Steve Nash, Julius Randle, Xavier Henry, Kobe Bryant, Ronnie Price, Nick Young, Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Lin and Dwight Buycks.
Buyck was the latest, but the injury bug first appeared in preseason when Nash went down. In the first game of the season, Randle broke his leg. From there, the Lakers had a steady stream of head-shaking bad luck that continued deep into Sunday night.
"What's your contingency plan?" a reporter asked Lakers coach Byron Scott after Sunday's loss to the Mavericks.
After the room exploded in laughter, Scott responded, "I don't have one right now."
Scott tried to deduce a plan with Ryan Kelly back at the small forward position and with rookie Jabari Brown also possibly playing out of position as a small forward, but the coach eventually just gave up trying to figure out how he would get through 48 minutes on Monday night: "I'm just shaking my head. It's like 'wow.'"
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Incredibly, Scott said that prior to hearing of Buycks' injury. At the time, the Lakers' coach was struggling to figure out how he would cope with only missing Wesley Johnson for Monday's game.
In the first half of Sunday's game, Johnson came down on a foot after hitting a three-pointer. The forward stayed in the game and tried to walk it off. He limped his way into hitting another three-pointer for his 16th point, which was the top total on the team at the break. Immediately after hitting the shot, Johnson's limp became noticeable enough that the bench substituted him. He hobbled straight into the locker room with athletic trainer Gary Vitti following close behind.
X-rays came back negative, but Johnson would not be available for Monday's game in Sacramento, the Lakers confirmed.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, the Lakers only have one player capable of playing the small forward position, and “capable” is probably not the correct word to use here. If nothing else, Kelly proved he is not a small forward this season, but to end the year, the 6-foot 10-inch Kelly will spend another couple of games playing heavy minutes out of position.
“Heavy minutes” is an understatement. Out-of-position Kelly has no backup. Normally, one would think this is an exaggeration, but in the case of the plane full of Lakers landing in Sacramento for Monday's game, this is not hyperbole. Technically speaking, rookies Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson could play as small forwards, but those are the Lakers' only two healthy guards.
Clarkson and Brown cannot play at small forward because neither of them have any backups, either. The Lakers only have two guards, so both of them should expect to play all 48 minutes. If Clarkson or Brown foul out, need a rest or (heaven forbid) suffer an injury, 6-foot 10-inch Kelly would become a guard. These are desperate times.
In the event Kelly moves to guard, fouls out or needs a rest, the Lakers would ask Ed Davis, Robert Sacre, Jordan Hill, Tarik Black or Carlos Boozer to play as a small forward. All of the aforementioned names played as centers at some point this season. "Small" is not an adjective for any of those guys.
"How are your dribbling skills," a Lakers staff member jokingly asked Black in the locker room after Sunday's game. As the players processed the injuries, that wasn't a joke by the end of the night.
Even before hearing about Buycks, Scott had trouble talking about lineups without laughing in disbelief. "Hopefully we got seven, eight guys healthy for the next two games, and we can finish it out."
