The Los Angeles Lakers can't run away from the very real, very threatening defensive problems that could, if not corrected, derail any hopes they have of competing for an NBA title.

That's how many games in a row the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers won. As you can imagine, that's the longest win streak in NBA history. We're a Isaiah Joe smaller shoe size away from that being a louder talking point as the Thunder sit at 24-1.

Mark Walter bought a majority share of the Lakers at a $10 billion team valuation. Was that too generous?

One player Lakers fans have been hoping the team can trade for is Herbert Jones, a 3-and-D forward who is currently with the New Orleans Pelicans. But even though the Pelicans have the Western Conference's worst record at 4-22, they're not looking to trade him, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic.

Lakers must fix Austin Reaves-LeBron James on-court issues or risk season-long struggles originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The film tells the truth. The Lakers are not a good defensive team, evidenced by the sight of the NBA’s top guards blowing past Lakers defenders into the paint during a 10-game defensive swoon that ranks among the league’s worst.

One place where Redick can make a change is with his starting lineup. The starting lineup, which features LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura, has a plus-minus of -15. They also have a defensive rating of 120.7, which is really bad.

Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce claimed this week that he could effectively guard the current version of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.