The Los Angeles Lakers have their fair share of critics in the media and Charles Barkley might be the biggest one of the lot. Following the Lakers’ 118-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, Barkley explained why he dislikes the team on Inside the NBA and called out LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“Why I hate the Lakers? It’s always somebody else’s fault,” Barkley said. “Remember three years ago it was Russell Westbrook’s fault. Then it was Frank Vogel’s fault. Then it was D’Angelo Russell’s fault. Then it was Darvin Ham’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault.”
“Listen, LeBron is one of the all-time greats, AD is a hell of a player, that’s it,” Barkley continued. “The rest of the guys are just guys. Every team got those guys and it bothers me. Listen, you don’t always blame other people for your shortcomings.”
Kenny Smith interjected by stating that the Lakers’ struggles are down to their style of play. Both Smith and Shaquille O’Neal believe that effort had something to do with it as well but Barkley wasn’t interested in hearing any of that.
“Kenny, this is the same thing we’ve been saying for three or four years,” Barkley stated. “They blame Frank Vogel. They blame Darvin Ham. They fired both of those guys. Then remember? It was Russell Westbrook a few years ago and then last year it was D’Angelo Russell.”
Barkley wants accountability from the Lakers’ stars as well as the top brass. It’s not the first time he has said it either. Barkley previously stated the Lakers had scapegoated Frank Vogel and Russell Westbrook. He believed those who had assembled that 2021-22 Lakers team deserved the lion’s share of the blame for that disastrous campaign.
You could certainly make the case that Vogel, Westbrook, Darvin Ham, and D’Angelo Russell had been scapegoated in the last few years. Should they have taken some of the blame for the team’s struggles? Sure, but they had the bulk of it placed on their shoulders.
It is safe to say that rubbed Barkley the wrong way. As for this Lakers rant, it actually wasn’t his first one of the night; he delivered one during halftime, too.
“It’s a low-scoring game, they’re (Mavericks) using the shot clock,” Barkley said. “They know the Lakers got no athletic ability on the defensive end. They blamed everything on D’Angelo Russell and Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham but still got the rest of the bums… And they’re just walking the ball up and down the court and taking them one-on-1 and great job by Jason Kidd and the Mavs.”
Barkley wasn’t all too impressed by James’ incredible dunk in the first quarter either. He called out the showrunners for showing it again and again but to be fair, it was an incredible dunk.
That slam ended up being one of the few things for the Lakers to smile about, as they dropped to 20-16 with the loss. It was quite embarrassing that they got blown out when the Mavericks were without both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving and you’d expect a reaction when they take on the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday at 10:30 PM ET.
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