"Try to get younger and more athletic around LeBron" - Shaquille O'Neal wants LA Lakers to clear the roster in the summer except for LeBron James and Anthony Davis

With LeBron James sidelined due to ankle soreness, the LA Lakers put up a gallant stand behind Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook against the Denver Nuggets.

The loss to reigning MVP Nikola Jokic's Nuggets was the Lakers’ sixth straight defeat and it has firmly put them in 11th place in the West.

The Lakers’ loss meant that they are now two games behind the San Antonio Spurs in the standings. If the Spurs win two of their last four games, LeBron James and the Tinseltown squad will officially have a long summer of uncertainty.

Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O'Neal appeared on CBS Sports to give his thoughts on what his former team should do to avoid a repeat of this embarrassing season:

“You gotta get rid of the expiring contracts. You got to get rid of the projects that didn't work. And we got to try to get younger and more athletic around LeBron because paper-wise when everybody did the deal it was like oooh Westbrook, oooh this and that. But, you know, age is a factor."

He added:

"You know, AD was hurt all year. I think he played last night but gotta keep them healthy. So you're still keeping LeBron and AD and then you probably gotta, you know, make moves, snuff everybody else.”

The LA Lakers’ catastrophic season started when they chased the marquee name of Russell Westbrook by trading away draft capital, youth, defense and hustle. Putting the triple-double king into the lineup as an off-ball threat to take some of the scoring load off LeBron James has failed miserably.

They’ve also managed to bind themselves to the former MVP due to his colossal contract. The absence of interest from other teams after Westbrook’s performance this season will only make matters worse.

LA’s front office, and with the likely approval of LeBron James, added aging superstars to the mix. Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Trevor Ariza came in with sterling credentials but sorely lacked the energy, hustle and grit that the team needed.

The fact that more minutes were given to Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, Talen Horton-Tucker and Wenyen Gabriel of late was an admission that fresh blood was needed.

LeBron James will always be in a “win-now” mode given his age. Just how the LA Lakers can accomplish that with Russell Westbrook’s albatross contract will be anybody’s guess.

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As bad as it looks, LeBron James and the LA Lakers still have a chance to enter the play-in

LeBron James' injuries could just be the end of the LA Lakers' season. [Photo: Bleacher Report]

The LA Lakers will face the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, OKC Thunder and Denver Nuggets to finish the regular season. Phoenix is already assured of home-court advantage for the rest of the playoffs and could rest their best players in their remaining games.

The Golden State Warriors, who have already clinched a postseason berth, could also go the Phoenix Suns route and put a premium on health. OKC is already in the lottery and could just let the season go. The Denver Nuggets, who are trying their best to stay out of the play-in, could be the team to put the nail on the Lakers' coffin.

All this is immaterial, however, if the Spurs win two of their last four games. However, San Antonio’s last four games are also as tough as they come. They will face the Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks as the season winds down. Except for the Warriors, all three teams will go all out to avoid the play-in.

It’s unclear how the next few games will unfold given the importance of wins. What’s clear, though, is that LA’s chance of making the play-in now rest on how other games play out. LeBron James’ ankle and knee injuries are only going to complicate things as they go on. The Lakers could also just shut down James and Anthony Davis this season to get ready for the next.

If they don’t do something drastic in the summer, they might have to go through the same embarrassing fate when the following season gets underway.