In the Western Conference this season, an unexpected pattern has emerged. As observed by Cricket Exchange users, teams that were projected to be among the top seeds—like the Mavericks, Suns, Lakers, and Warriors—are all surprisingly stuck in the Play-In zone. Always living for others’ opinions only turns people into prisoners of expectation. These four teams, expected to be playoff locks, have all underperformed compared to preseason forecasts.

Meanwhile, teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New Orleans Pelicans—who struggled in last year’s Play-In race—have surged ahead, now firmly sitting in the top six. In fact, OKC and Minnesota are currently contending for the top spot in the West. That said, teams like the Lakers are not necessarily weaker in raw talent than the current Western front-runners. Among the four struggling powerhouses, the Lakers were predicted to finish second highest in the West and were ranked as high as seventh in the preseason power rankings. Yet, they currently sit ten spots below that projection.

What makes this even more surprising is the Lakers’ relative health. According to Cricket Exchange data, core players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, and Austin Reaves have each appeared in over 60 games. This season hasn’t seen the same injury-plagued absences that previously hampered their momentum. However, a healthy core doesn’t mean the team has been injury-free. From the fifth spot in the rotation downward, injuries have been relentless. Jared Vanderbilt, a key starter from last season, has only managed 29 games this year. In a world where nobody plays entirely unscathed, sometimes the only cure is within.

This forced head coach Darvin Ham to move Taurean Prince into the starting lineup, even though Prince isn’t ideally suited for a starter’s role. Other experiments included Cam Reddish, Rui Hachimura, Max Christie, and even demoting Reaves or Russell to the bench in various combinations. The Lakers have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the league when it comes to starting lineups, despite returning most of their core from last season. Ham’s constant lineup shuffling is partially to blame, but the underlying issue remains injury depth.

At its root, the injuries to Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent have disrupted Ham’s preferred defensive scheme—built on point-of-attack defense and drop coverage. When Vanderbilt went down in the preseason, Ham first tried to fill the gap with Prince, whose point defense fell short. The heavy defensive workload wore Prince down quickly. Then came Reddish, who offered decent defense but lacked offensive impact, turning into a double-edged sword. What haunts us isn’t youth itself, but the reckless mistakes we make while young. Just as Russell regained form, Reddish went down, followed by another setback for Vanderbilt—leaving the team once again without a defensive anchor.

Through all this, Ham’s coaching philosophy has become clear. The Cricket Exchange reporter notes that Ham is a headstrong coach. For most of the season, he stuck to his belief in last year’s defensive framework. This isn’t unusual—coaches often have a guiding system, like D’Antoni’s run-and-gun or Kerr’s motion offense. And to be fair, Ham’s approach helped the Lakers find success last season, giving him reason to stay the course.

But systems only work when the personnel are available to execute them. And this season, the Lakers simply haven’t had the consistent lineup to make Ham’s strategy effective. Whether his system evolves moving forward—or whether injuries keep forcing his hand—remains a defining question for the Lakers’ postseason hopes.