The Lakers finally established an identity, this is how great they are lately

The 2023-24 season isn't going like the LA Lakers believed it was going to be, as the team has been struggling and is currently sitting in the 9th seed in the Western Conference. But the team has improved in their last seven games, winning six of them.

With a 30-26 record, the team has improved and is looking to increase their 3-game winning streak to close the regular season inside the top 6 teams in the Western Conference to avoid the Play-In Tournament and advance straight into the playoffs in pursuit of the NBA championship title.

In the last seven games the Lakers have played, they have become the 5th best offensive, and the 7th best defensive group in the league with their players averaging:

Anthony Davis 24.5 PPG, LeBron James 24.2 PPG, Austin Reaves 20.3 PPG, D'Angelo Russell 20.3 PPG, Rui Hachimura 15.0 PPG, Taurean Prince 10.1 PPG. Still, the most impressive thing is that the team continues to be shorthanded with four key players missing games due to their injuries.

D'Angelo Russell revealed his mindset amid the trading rumors

“I never played to not get traded,” he said. “I was just kinda like, f— it. And that ‘f— it’ allowed me to play my game.” The guard also credited his recent stretch of productive basketball to the idea that he doesn’t get too hung up on what his shooting percentages are. “Guys come in, they care about their percentages, they care about all this stuff and then they struggle,” he said. “As soon as I stopped caring about it, I played my best basketball of my career.”