Awaiting a tough test against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers’ first bad news was Anthony Davis‘ inability to play. The Purple and Gold were already on the backfoot on a road trip with three losses in four games. LeBron James went vintage against the Ja Morant-led Grizzlies, but the Lakers faced a classic routing. It was another upset for JJ Redick as his team fell to 4-4.

The road trip came with its lessons. Their only win came in Toronto. Even the Raptors nearly exchanged fates with a pulsating fightback. And then there is the loss to the Pistons, an up-and-coming team no one expected them to lose to. In terms of faults, a “sicko” as Redick calls himself, might have a plethora of issues he wants to address.

However, these might be the biggest.

Lack of depth killing the Lakers

The Purple and Gold have witnessed seismic improvement in their offense under JJ Redick. There’s a lot of movement, off-ball action, and clever schemes. The coordination allows them to produce 116.1 points per game, the 9th most in the league. They managed to reach close to the line even in their loss to the Grizzlies. A 39-point LeBron James performance powered the offense.

However, there is a large need for the Lakers to have a well-distributed offense. That can’t happen with a counterproductive bench. Despite the Lakers having the better offenses in the league, their bench only generates 18.9 points. It’s the lowest mark in the entire league. On the other hand, the Memphis Grizzlies have a dashing bench, scoring over 40 points per night!

Tonight, they contributed 52 points in a 131-point team performance. They outscored the Lakers’ bench by 19 points. Three bench scorers surpassed double digits for Memphis. On the other hand, only Cam Reddish qualifies under that category for the Los Angeles Lakers. That takes us to the next point.

Defense is the demise of the Lakers

The Lakers could be the classic example of why defense is equally important to win as is the offense. While JJ Redick has established order within their attack, when it comes to containing, the Purple and Gold suffer. The rookie head coach has always addressed the teams’ defensive flaws after games.

“We’ve got to get back, get matched up in transition. Believe in that first half they had 9 points after makes, where we either jogged back. We didn’t get matched up. We stabbed at the ball twice,” he discussed after the lob-sided loss to the Grizzlies.

In that regard, the Lakers give up the most fast break points in the NBA, 21.5 points every game. It’s three points more than the next worst. Furthermore, that’s far from their only defensive weakness. Even with Anthony Davis manning the paint, their rivals average 55 paint points, fourth highest in the NBA.

The Purple and Gold’s defense has several repairs yet to be made. Some of these buckets come uncontested with the Lakers’ defense not arranged. Against cohesive offensive teams, a leak of points is possible, and that has been the trend during their distressing road trip.

The Lakers need to shoot the ball more and better

There has been one proven attribute that is common among successful teams. They can shoot the three at a high clip. The same can’t be said for the Lakers. Not only do they shoot the least amount of threes, their conversion rate isn’t great either. Tonight, against the Grizzlies, even though they attempted more threes, Memphis held a six-point advantage.

It doesn’t help that their perimeter defense isn’t elite. Opponents manage to shoot a better volume and hit at a better rate against JJ Redick’s troop. Given their shallow shooting depth, it’s paramount that the Lakers improve their ways of defending the three. Of their 4 subpar shooters, two have to improve their shot-making ability.

D’Angelo Russell, a lethal floor spacing threat, is only converting 30% of his attempts while shooting the second-most attempts on the roster. Additionally, JJ Redick only emphasized wanting Anthony Davis to shoot more. But while he has let loose of his scoring animal, the leading scorer in the NBA is having a nightmare season while shooting.

These are the major drawbacks that led the Lakers to a 1-4 result on their road trip. It has to be back to the drawing board for JJ Redick and the Lakers with many facets of the game to improve still.