LeBron James may have 20 years of experience under his belt, but losing still hasn’t gotten any easier for him. This season, on a Lakers team that struggled to get it going early on, James has known the feeling of defeat all too well as Anthony Davis continues to miss time with injury.
Last month, amid tough times for the Purple and Gold, James let some of his frustration show in a chat with the media, where he reaffirmed his desire to win at this stage of his career.
“I don’t wanna finish my career playing at this level from a team aspect,” said James after the game. “I still want to compete for championships. I know what I can bring to any ball club with the right pieces. I’m a winner and I want to win. And I want to win and give myself a chance to win and still compete for championships,” James said. “That has always been my passion, that has always been my goal since I entered the league as an 18-year-old kid out of Akron, Ohio. And I know it takes steps to get there, but once you get there and know how to get there, playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is not in my DNA. It’s not in my DNA anymore. So, we’ll see what happens and see how fresh my mind stays over the next couple years.”
Those comments came just before the start of this recent win streak, but he still got a lot of backlash from fans who thought he took things a little too far.
Lakers Coach Defends LeBron James For His Comments About Losing
But in Saturday’s post-game press conference, Lakers coach Darvin Ham defended those comments from LeBron and explained how it was actually the best thing that could have happened to them.
“[Everybody was saying] LeBron’s doing this, LeBron’s doing that. He’s stating facts. No one wants to be comfortable with losing. … It’s almost like ringing an alarm, like everybody wake up.”
Darvin Ham says LeBron's controversial comments is what the team needed:
"[Everybody was saying] LeBron's doing this, LeBron's doing that. He's stating facts. No one wants to be comfortable with losing. … It's almost like ringing an alarm, like everybody wake up."
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) January 8, 2023
Whether it was LeBron’s words or something else, this Lakers team has responded in a big way and seems to have turned a corner this season.
Of course, at 3 games under .500, the Lakers still have a long way to go before they can make any kind of noise in the West, but they may not be as far away as we all thought at the start of the season.
Only time will tell how they finish, but it’s clear they still have some fight left in them this NBA season.
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