NBA 2018-19 analysis: Reasons for Lakers struggles during their recent road trip

#2 Absence of several key players:

Injuries haven't helped the Lakers

The Lakers had already been playing without Rajon Rondo for some time now. But on this road trip they were also without their young star Brandon Ingram.

Without Ingram in the lineup, the bench unit simply looks lifeless. Ingram used to start the games for Lakers and also play huge minutes with the bench unit. He would be the primary decision maker for the bench unit and the Lakers bench rallied behind his displays. But in his absence, the bench unit could not give any production.

The Lakers starters gave good production. But the bench unit got massively outplayed. In the recently concluded encounter against the Nets, the bench was outscored 48-18 points. This has put tremendous pressure on the starting unit and has also increased their minutes per game.

Javale McGee also sat out the last two losses and that further shrank the roster.