Lakers are lapping the field in free throw disparity

Since the beginning of the 2022-23 season, the Lakers have shot over a thousand more free throws than their opponents. This season, they've taken 420 more free throws than opposing teams, six per game. For a team that shoots over 77 percent from the line, that's like spotting the Lakers 4.7 points every game.

Rick Carlisle joined a long list of coaches upset about the Lake Show free throw disparity after Los Angeles took 43 free throws to Indiana's 16 in a 150-145 victory over the Pacers.

The whistles have been overwhelmingly in favor of the Lakers, especially since the referees' official Twitter account apologized for a "gut-wrenching" missed foul call on LeBron James at the end of a big game against the Boston Celtics.

For the remainder of the regular season and playoffs, the Lakers averaged a whopping 9.3 more free throw attempts than their opponents. This season, they've only drawn the fifth-most fouls in the NBA, but have yielded the second-fewest attempts.

Perhaps having James and Anthony Davis, two unstoppable post players, accounts for some of this, but that doesn't explain why the Lakers are called for so few fouls on defense.

D'Angelo Russell was committing 2.2 fouls per game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the Lakers, that dropped to 1.4. Jarred Vanderbilt went from 2.6 fouls per game with Utah to 2.2 with the Lakers last season. This year he was down to 1.5 fouls per game. 

Overall, the disparity is stunning. The difference between the Lakers and the second-place New York Knicks is 659 free throw attempts, more than the difference between New York and the No. 28 team, the Detroit Pistons.

It's not true that the Lakers get all the calls, but they do get more of the calls than any other team in the NBA, and it's not close. Perhaps calling fouls evenly against Los Angeles is too "gut-wrenching" for the league's officials.