LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are in some serious trouble. They currently sit in the 10th seed in the Western Conference and with only 23 games left,  it is looking to be a tough squeeze in order to get in the postseason. And the only way to slide into the eighth or seventh seed is by LeBron turning on “playoff” mode, two months earlier than usual.

On Christmas Day, the Lakers were 20-14 and a playoff seeded team. However, in the same night the King LeBron James went out with a knee injury. While the time he was out, the young Lakers core went 7-11 dropping them to the 10 seed in the West; out of the playoff bracket.

A huge dilemma that has also negatively damaged the Lakers was the whole scandal of New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis requesting a trade. The Lakers were the most likely destination for the Brow which caused a lot of controversy of who would be traded for the six time all star. Names like Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball were put in discussions for the possible trade. With the trade looming above the organization, it created an unstable and unfriendly working environment because anybody could be traded at any moment. But now since no trade occurred, some players are still left sour because they believed that their team was ready to get rid of them in an instant.

Now with All star week officially over, it is now back to work for this chaotic team that only has about a month and a half to put everything together quickly in order to make a playoff run. And the most likely only way to make it is to run the team through LeBron James. However since his return the team, they have still have a lousy record of 3-5.

With LeBron back in the lineup, the team has still struggled to get their rhythm back, but with such a small amount of games remaining and playing three games behind the eighth seed, this Lakers team is gonna need to put aside their differences and focus on winning games and making a run for the O’Brien trophy.