LA Lakers Must Cut Ties with Mike D’Antoni Sooner Rather Than Later

What are the Los Angeles Lakers accomplishing by holding on to lame-duck coach Mike D'Antoni?

Is executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss so frozen in his own indecisiveness that he's afraid to pull the plug on what certainly feels like a fait accompli? Buss and the Lakers are more backed up than a Los Angeles sewer system after a major downpour.

The Lakers not only were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with Friday night's loss at San Antonio, but now also suffer the indignity of seeing Phil Jackson about to take over as president of the New York Knicks (via ESPN.com).

Take that, Laker fans!

With just 16 games left in a miserable season filled with massive injuries and a major leadership void, the Lakers stand at 22-44. Their record-breaking 48-point loss at home to the rival Los Angeles Clippers would have prompted many teams to make a coaching change. 

Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak met with D'Antoni following that game.  And nothing happened, the team deciding to stand pat with their coach.  From Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:

The historically bad loss to the Clippers on Thursday caused Kupchak to check in with D'Antoni and the rest of Lakers management to discuss whether there was anything that could be done to get the team back on track, but the first inclination was not to make a coaching change, sources said.

Nothing came of the team's worst loss in franchise history. Nor was anything done despite the fact that the Lakers gave up 125 points to New Orleans, 134 to Denver and 131 to Oklahoma City, all losses, in the past 10 days.  The Lakers "held" the Spurs to 119 points, but lost the game by 34.

It's obvious this coach has lost his team, that the Lakers are a mere collection of soon-to-be free agents looking to pad their stats and wallets. Forget team loyalty.

Even D'Antoni's favorite son, Steve Nash, to...

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