The Los Angeles Lakers were the favorites to win it all before the regular season began last week, but after a few games and the absence of forward Pau Gasol the Lakers have struggled so far to get back to dominant status.

A 3-1 record to start the season is no reason to panic, but there have been a lot of questions about whether or not the Lakers are as deep a team as people once thought. It is way too early to say the Ron Artest gamble by the Lakers is a bust, but after the first four games Artest hasn’t put up the kind of numbers or shooting percentage people were expecting.

Whenever a team wins a championship in any professional sport the team gets put under the microscope the next season in their title defense. This season the Lakers are feeling the pressure early in the season as they have not been able to live up to their high expectations thus far, especially after the disappointing loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Obviously whenever a championship team brings in a player like Ron Artest into the mix it will take time for that player and the team to adjust and adapt to new surrounding. This season has been a rough one so far for Artest as he has struggled with his shooting in the first four games, but did have his best game of the season in the Lakers overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder as he a season high 20 points on six of eight shooting, six assists and five steals.

So Artest will take time to get comfortable in this offense and with his performance against the Thunder it seems like Artest might be able to turn it around sooner rather than later.

The biggest concern now for Los Angeles is the health of forward Pau Gasol who has a tear in his right hamstring and has yet to play a minute on the floor for the Lakers this season. Gasol was able to stay healthy for the majority of the season last year as he only missed one regular season game, but this season it has been four games and counting.

The Lakers are one of the best teams in the league this season and they have gotten some inspired play from Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom already this year, but the bench play hasn’t been able to live up seasons past and the team is suffering. Pau Gasol not playing due to injury is a major blow to the Lakers starting lineup, but the Lakers size in the starting lineup already it shouldn’t be that much of a factor even though it has been.

So are the Lakers title contenders with Pau?

Yes, but without Gasol in the paint the Lakers will have to work that much harder to win games and stay in contention with some surprisingly good teams this season like the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets.

It is still uncertain when Gasol will be able to return to the floor for the Lakers, but he will miss his fifth game of the season on Wednesday against former teammate Trevor Ariza and the Houston Rockets.