2019 was a monumental year for the Lakers. Their first year with LeBron James at the helm ended in disaster. The team president quit without telling anyone first. It was safe to wonder if ownership cared enough to bring a flagship franchise back to its previous highs.
Nevertheless, the Lakers found their way. They got another superstar to pair with James, hired an outstanding coach and started the 2019-20 season with a 27-6 record.
2019 was also a monumental year for Lakers Outsiders, our little old site in its fourth year of existence. Our website was made in the midst of the Lakers’ worst stretch of basketball in franchise history, a beacon for those sticking through a tank-heavy few years. While many of those who started this site have now moved on to other ventures, their vision for what it could become has fueled us as we continue to build our brand and provide unique coverage of the team we all love, through its highs and lows.
This was our most successful year to date as we built our following and our views while adding more to our coverage than ever before. Our tiny, homegrown website had visitors from over 200 countries in the past year, a source of immense pride for all of us who pour our hearts and souls into this project.
In 2019, we interviewed a Lakers two-way player and reviewed a music set from an all-time Lakers great. We criticized the Lakers’ front office and praised them for their progress. We introduced you to Frank Vogel (and had an introduction ready for Tyronn Lue when we were 100% sure he would be hired) and called on Danny Green to be a free agent target months in advance. We were enamored by Brandon Ingram’s growth and gave you draft coverage that ended up being inconsequential. We praised and criticized LeBron off the court. We showed optimism towards Dwight Howard and saw LeBron’s defensive revitalization. We reminisced about the Decade of LeBron and reviewed bottled water. We revitalized our Instagram and did some really stupid things on Twitter.
We lost many favorites in the past ten year years.
Join us in a celebration of the life of the 2010s Lakers. pic.twitter.com/ctlFKdpa4y
— Lakers Outsiders (@LakersOutsiders) December 28, 2019
Finally, we began our most intensive project to date, a weekly recap of the Lakers called “The Late Lake Show” on YouTube.
These were just a few of our favorite creations of the year and a testament to our dedicated and hard-working staff. As most of you know, we are a group made mostly of college students or recent graduates who have day jobs. For all of us, this is either a time-intensive hobby or a way of breaking into the industry at large; none of us get paid to work on this website. As you may know due to recent news regarding our colleagues at SB Nation and other media companies, it is extremely hard to make a livable wage in this line of work; for us, it has been nearly impossible. The small amounts of money we earn are used to fund the website and keep it going as we try to build it into something special.
That would not be possible without the help and support we receive from our amazing following. Those of you who follow us on social media, listen to us on podcasts, and visit our site on a daily basis make all of this worthwhile. You are the reason this website has lasted as long as it has and hopefully will be the reason it continues to provide Lakers news, opinions, rumors, and completely dumb ideas for a long time to come. Many of you have also contributed financially to help us pay for our necessities through our Patreon. We are forever grateful and indebted to those of you who have made that sacrifice for us and those of you who have continued to do so.
As we enter a new decade, we are immensely proud of what we have accomplished thus far, given our lack of resources. It has been a pleasure providing this product and all of the hard work is made worthwhile due to the support we have received. Even when the motivation has dwindled when the growth has slowed down, we have kept pushing each other to new heights.
But the new year will also give us an opportunity to grow further and make our product into something truly special that caters to our loyal readers and fans. We hope that you will continue to lend your support, your feedback, and your patience as we continue to build our small website and be the most unique outlet for everything about our favorite team that brought together a diverse and passionate group together in a close bond.
Thank you sincerely from the bottom of our hearts for a wonderful 2019 and best wishes for an even better 2020.
Happy New Year,
Lakers Outsiders
