While Stephen A. Smith believes the Lakers are going nowhere, Sharpe's optimistic take

If the LA Lakers want to repeat a similar run to last season's playoffs, the team needs to start doing better, but ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins of First Take don't believe the purple and gold will be able to make it to the WCF again.

Smith believes the West this year is stronger than last season with multiple teams being better than the Los Angeles Lakers, something similar to Perkins's belief as the purple and gold continue to be in the 9th seed after falling to the Suns.

The only optimistic analyst on the table earlier today was Shannon Sharpe who still believes the LA Lakers will be able to repeat as a Western Conference Finalist this season, even thinking it will be harder than it was for the team last year.

With the loss to the Suns, the Lakers now have a 31-28 record with .525, with 23 games left which isn't looking good for the team that wants to avoid the Play-In this year and go straight to the playoffs. The squad continues to be shorthanded with many players still out injured.

The Lakers stars have delivered, role players need to step up their game

James and Davis aren’t strangers to carrying the offensive burden for the Lakers, while D'Angelo Russell has been on a heater since the end of January. The three have established themselves as the hierarchy on the offensive end, but they’ll need help from the rest of the roster if they want to overcome teams like the Suns.