kobe retired in 2016. they tried and failed to sign big name FAs like LMA and melo before that
the lakers had a "down" era in the early-mid 90s as well, but those teams were fun as hell to watch with guys like jones, van exel, divac, ceballos, and threatt and they weren't losing 50-60 games a season like the lakers of the mid 2010s were. those lakers teams were depressing and the franchise had never been through that bad of a stretch in its history. they weren't going anywhere, even with the high draft picks, until lebron signed