Winless Lakers still in free fall after a horrible end to last season

The 2019-20 Lakers went 52-19 and won the NBA's strange championship in the bubble. They went 42-30 the next season, bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and were 21-19 in early January last season, a few days after defeating the Timberwolves as part of a four-game winning streak.

Since then, the Lakers are 12-34. Yes, you read that correctly.

That includes a 12-30 free-fall to the finish last season and the inglorious distinction of being one of three winless teams (0-4) in the NBA heading into Friday night against the Timberwolves at Target Center.

While it's dangerous to count out LeBron James in any scenario, and this year's four games is a woefully small sample size — as I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast — the eye test and the terrible numbers are in concert with one another.

Because of LeBron, Anthony Davis and the fact that they're still the Lakers brand, Los Angeles is as unavoidable on national television as they are unwatchable.

The roster beyond LeBron and AD is putrid, with Russell Westbrook — an albatross on the roster with both his play and contract — likely to return from a hamstring injury against the Wolves, much to the protest of Lakers fans.

Westbrook and former Wolves guard Patrick Beverley, the preferred starting backcourt for L.A., have combined to shoot 4 for 28 from three-point range. The Lakers as a team are 33 for 148 from long-distance (22.3%).

In year 20 (!), LeBron is still one of the NBA's best players and is nearly averaging a triple-double (25 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists) among the wreckage. But he probably shouldn't be the best player on a roster any more.

And it's hard to find much help when LeBron, Davis and Westbrook are making close to $130 million combined this season.

It's a sad sight and a strange reality: The Lakers coming to town to face the Wolves, who by comparison are by far the better positioned and less dysfunctional franchise at the moment.