The Los Angeles Lakers are in a pretty tough way this season and Friday night’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies certainly did not make things better. It marked the fourth straight defeat for the Purple and Gold, and yet another sign of their devolving state. After the game, not even LeBron James had an answer for the struggles and conceded that the Lakers are just not a good team right now.
“We have to improve the defense and at the same time… Critical turnovers, missed free throws… we had our chances. We had our gameplan and how we wanted to execute and I thought we did that as well as we could.”
LeBron James: “We suck right now.” He also framed LAL’s in-season tournament as “only two games,” suggesting that championship should be given the proper weight pic.twitter.com/a1IaENpWyh
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 6, 2024
LeBron was clearly not happy in this post-game presser, but it’s still an improvement over the last game when he refused to even show up at all. Tonight, James dropped 32 points and 7 assists on the night but it still wasn’t enough to carry his team to a win. After the latest loss, the Lakers have fallen to 17-19 on the season and are 12th in the West with no signs of a turnaround.
LeBron Is Keeping The Lakers Alive
LeBron James has been miraculous this season with averages of 25.0 points, 7.4 points, and 7.3 assists on 52.8% shooting. But at 39 years old, time is running out for him to capture a title before it’s all said and done. This season was supposed to be a transition year for him, but the Lakers have been more reliant than ever on his production offensively. But even when LeBron plays well (like he did tonight), the Lakers just don’t have enough to beat the top Western teams.
Going forward, all LeBron James can do is keep going and try the best that he can to keep his team alive. But at 11th in the West, and below the play-in line, the situation grows more dire by the day the margin for error gets increasingly narrow. The only path forward for this team is through the trade market, and we know that Lebron has had no problem using those tactics in the past.
Changes On The Horizon
Darvin Ham preached patience after the loss on Friday, but Lakers fans are ready for the team to take action. Currently, while no trades are imminent, the Lakers have been mixed up in a number of rumors, including for veterans like Zach LaVine and Dejounte Murray. Right now, however, the biggest problem might be on the bench. Amid all the losing, Darvin Ham has been at the front and center of blame and some fans are calling for his job after just a few months into the season.
It remains to be seen what the Lakers will do, but mediocrity on this level is unacceptable given the stars they currently have. Judging by LeBron’s mood after the game tonight, he’s not happy with the state of the team and we’ve seen before how ruthless he can be with mid-season trades. So, between now and February’s deadline, the Lakers will be active in talks across the league and LeBron is going to have his work cut out for him trying to keep the team afloat in the meantime.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
