The Real Lakers of Los Angeles has entered the ‘Groundhog Day’ portion of their storylines. After yet another disappointing loss to a sub-.500 team that won’t make the playoffs, LeBron James directed some of the same rhetoric towards his fellow teammates that he did Saturday night in New Orleans. But this time, James took a curious step forward with it.
During his postgame interview in Memphis, James was asked if “distractions” such as a playoff push, could have been distracting. Then James wondered if those “distractions” and “all the stuff that’s been talked about this year” (WHICH IS A LOT OF STUFF) have caused some Lakers to lose focus to the point he thinks it’s on some unnamed Lakers to say “I can’t do this anymore,” if they truly feel distracted.
As I mentioned before the video, “all the stuff that’s been talked about” does so much work in that sentence. James is all but suggesting that his teammates, whom the team dangeled in very public trade talks for Anthony Davis, which were orchestrated by LeBron’s agent and friend, aren’t built for the scrutiny that LeBron himself has dealt with since high school. Also, which teammates is he talking about?
It can’t be Brandon Ingram, who led the way with 32 points and was the Lakers best player on Monday. And it’s likely not Kyle Kuzma, who had 22 points in support. However, the Lakers veterans on the bench did almost nothing as they combined to score seven total points. Perhaps it is them he’s talking to. But he also sounds like someone talking into the void.
Perhaps James is trying to wake up the other veterans by calling them out in passive aggressive ways, but by not being clear in his criticism he’s not doing them any favors.
The only thing that can save this team is stringing some wins together, but doing that is a lot easier said than done for these Lakers.
