One of the reasons for the struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers this season was because of injuries. Prior to the team really being hit by the injury bug, the Lakers were the 4th seed in the Western Conference.
However, all of the injuries added up and resulted in the Lakers falling in the Western Conference standings quickly. The big injury to the team was on Christmas when LeBron James went down. While that was a big blow, the Lakers also missed Lonzo Ball a lot this season when he was out.