With the lakers in the playoffs, no less the finals, this town would come to a stop during games, the discussion everywhere would be on games, people actually would watch the games, there would be Laker flags all over houses, there would be laker car flags out of car windows, etc. The fact is no one give a crap in LA about the lakers this season. No one cares about NBA basketball. Worst TV ratings for games since many decades and everyone is home watching TV.
Probably a lot of reasons. The infusion of politics, the weird COVID season and players opting out, no fans and the kind of F/U message about fans the NBA players seem to be delivering, the fact that people realize they can exist just fine without professional sports, and perhaps that people have other things on their minds, etc.
If I was Steve Kerr, my narrative would be we miss our fans and want them back next year to see exciting basketball and a great product. Say Curry and excitement together a few hundred times. It wouldn't be half or you have political views that suck.