OAKLAND – Kyle Kuzma lowered himself into the thick, soupy water. A lid snapped into place over his head and everything went dark. He lay still, alone with his thoughts. For one hour in that float tank on a rainy San Francisco Friday night, everything was quiet. Everything was calm.



That is not often the experience in life as a Los Angeles Laker. Chaos is the default milieu. On Friday, it was The Athletic’s update that the New Orleans Pelicans considered the Lakers’ initial offer for Anthony Davis a “lowball.” A night later following a 115-101 loss to the Golden State Warriors without LeBron James, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported it was Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee challenging coach Luke Walton in the locker room about rotations after he called them out for not embracing his philosophy of unselfish play.



After Saturday’s loss, the Lakers are now 27-26 and back to two games out of the eight playoff spot in the...