The Lakers suffered two back-to-back blowout losses and it is clear the team’s failings are taking a toll on LeBron James.
The Lakers fell 138-122 to the Hawks and are once again below .500 on the season, after suffering a 135-119 loss to the Rockets the night before.
“We could, on any given night, beat any team in the NBA,” James said after the loss to Atlanta. “And then on any given night, we can get our ass kicked by any team in the NBA. That’s just the (facts). What’s our record? Under .500? What, 24-25? That’s where we are.”
The Lakers’ upcoming schedule isn’t doing the team any favors either, since they next play Boston at TD Garden where they have a league-best 22-2 home record.
The purple and gold will play the Knicks after that, who produced a 14-2 record in January.
James was asked if he had a message for his teammates ahead of those two games.
He answered bluntly, “I don’t have any message for my teammates. Just go out and do your job.”
James went to keep talking to reporters and started with, “I mean…”, before an LA staffer ended the interview.
“Appreciate it,” James said as he was turned away from reporters. “Way to cut me off. Because I was about to go in.”
Just hours later, LeBron posted a cryptic message to his X page.
⌛️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 31, 2024
The message could mean a number of things – James’ time at the Lakers is running out, Darvin Ham’s times at the Lakers is running out, or that LeBron’s food delivery driver is taking too long. Who knows.
But one thing is for sure, the Lakers need to start winning and that begins with better communication.
“If I had that answer, it’d be fixed,” Austin Reaves said when asked about why communication is a constant issue for the team. “I think individually we had to sit down and look ourselves in the mirror and kind of just ask what are we bringing to the table and start there. And then after that, like you said, that should have already been done. But we’re better than what our record indicates, I believe.”
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