The Los Angeles Lakers are having another terrible season, which has been the case the last two years now. Kobe Bryant is in his 20th season and looks completely washed up (it’s painful to watch, it’s like watching a funeral), their lottery picks are teenagers and their head coach is clueless (#FireByronScott). It’s been a tough couple of years now and Lakers fans are feed up with the putrid play. It is a period of transition with a lot of uncertainty ahead, which is usual for this illustrious franchise. With this said, the Lakers and their fans have a lot to be thankful for moving forward. The following is a list of why fans should keep their heads up and remember that things could be so much worse and there is in fact light at the end of the tunnel.

Be thankful for Ben Simmons

In the NBA, when you are a terrible team you get to pick high in the following draft. For the Lakers, this is great news because they are a dumpster fire (no offense to dumpster fires, some of my best friends are dumpster fires). The Lakers are a bottom three team in the NBA this season, so they are on track to select one of the best players in college basketball. Right now, the number one player in the country is Australian forward Ben Simmons. The 6 foot, 10 inch Power Forward from Louisiana State University can handle full court, has great vision and passing abilities, has long arms and can finish at the rim at an elite level. The Lakers need to #SuckForSimmons or #BeBadForBen he rest of the way to help lock up a potential star in the NBA. An interesting tidbit is that Simmons played with current Laker, D’Angelo Russell, in High School. That would be a hell of a Hollywood ending for those two to re-unite in the purple and gold next season.

Be thankful that Byron Scott will be gone soon

The current head coach of the Lakers is a former player who was a part of championship teams in Los Angeles during the 1980s. He was hired to appease the fan base and bring back some of that Laker magic of yesteryear. Well, as it turns out you can’t live in the past. Byron Scott has been an awful coach for the Lakers for several reasons and deserves to get fired after the season. He doesn’t offer anything unique as a head coach, he’s stubborn and stuck in his ways, he isn’t creative or innovative, he doesn’t have any patience, he doesn’t know how to manage players and he’s a Kobe Bryant fanboy too scared to tell the mamba that he past his prime now and needs to relax with all the shots he takes. Basicially, he’s one of the worst coaches in the NBA (if not the worst). The only silver lining is that his awfulness increases the probability that the Lakers get a high lottery pick in the NBA Draft coming in June. Did I mention that Byron Scott is ridiculous?

Be thankful for cap space

After this season, the Lakers will have insane amounts of cap space to sign players. Kobe Bryant’s massive extension is officially off the books (please don’t re-sign him like last time, for God’s sake the man is a walking corpse at this point) and all their best players are on rookie deals. I know this is something fans have heard before, I understand, but this time the variables are different. Free Agents won’t have to deal with Kobe and his ball-hog antics moving forward. Kobe has been my favorite player , but you can’t deny that the guy is unbearable as a teammate. He calls himself the Mamba and tells you he eats first (no, he’s not talking about at Thanksgiving dinner, he means pass him the fucking ball!). They also can have an influence on who the next head coach of the Lakers will be, even if it is behind the scenes and we won’t know about it. The Lakers have a tremendous opportunity to go get veteran players in their primes to put around their youth. The salary cap is going up every year for the next couple of seasons thanks to a new television contract between the NBA and networks. All of this lined up perfectly for a fresh start for the purple and gold.

Be thankful for talented youth

The Lakers are stockpiling talented draft picks with every miserable season they endure (special thanks to Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Byron Scott and Kobe’s massive extension for helping collect these picks). If there is an upside to being atrocious, it is that you have the opportunity to rebuild through the draft. The Lakers are moving out of the Kobe Bryant era , which is sad and also exciting. It is sad to see a legend go, but there is also excitement about what the next era will be. Fans can see their future team being built from the ground up. Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell are the big names of the bunch thus far. They have shown flashes both in college and the NBA that they can be developed into really good players (also, they date models and Kardashian-Jenners in their spare time…lucky bastards). The Lakers will hopefully add more young talent in the coming drafts, which means a lot of young players on rookie deals to help bring the franchise back to relevance.

Be thankful you play in Los Angeles and you’re the Lakers

As bad as the team looks and has looked recently, you can take solace in that fact that you are the glamour franchise in the NBA. The Lakers are the biggest brand in the sport around the country and world, this does have significance. It means that you have the best opportunities on and off the court to succeed as a franchise. Players and coaches would love to be part of the franchise (and date hot celebrities) if put in the right situation by the organization. The problem has been that recently the situation on the team has been terrible. You can’t expect to lure big name players and coaches if the team is old and pathetic. That is taking care of itself, with old players moving on and retiring as well as young players being drafted. The Lakers must take advantage of this reality and convince talented people to come join the top basketball franchise in the world and restore it to it’s glory.