Lakers star LeBron James isn’t playing winning basketball right now. After the loss to the Miami Heat, his former team, on Wednesday, the Lakers are now 14-21 and seven games below .500.
Speaking to the media after the game, a dejected and defeated James admitted that the losses were really starting to pile up. But he also explained the toll it’s having on his mind.
“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 after the game. “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.”
We don’t know for sure how this season will pan out for the Lakers, but one can guess where they’ll be when it’s all said and done.
As for James and his long-term future, he revealed that it’s not up to his body. Instead, how long he’ll stay in the league will depend on his mind and how much he wants to keep working night in and night out.
“I don’t have a number,” James said. “I know as long as my mind stays in it, I can play at this level for a minute. Now, that’s up to my mind. My body is going to be OK because if my mind is into it, I will make sure my body is taken care of and I’ll continue to put in the work.”
"I don’t have a number," James said. "I know as long as my mind stays in it, I can play at this level for a minute. Now, that’s up to my mind. My body is going to be OK because if my mind is into it, I will make sure my body is taken care of and I’ll continue to put in the work."
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 29, 2022
At this point, it’s tough to say where the Lakers go from here. Besides the All-Time scoring record, he doesn’t have much to play for this season. The question is, What can the Lakers do to change that?
Lakers Reportedly Do Not Want To Make Win-Now Move
With the situation growing direr with every loss, James has been putting more and more pressure on the front office to make a move. Unfortunately, they remain reluctant to include their last remaining first-round picks in any deals.
“The reality and the facts are is that the Lakers are gonna have to be patient with those two first-round picks that they have/ Because those are their only two assets for the rest of the decade,” said Shams Charania. “So if you’re gonna trade your 2027 first, your 2029 first-round pick, you have to be sure about tth player you get. If you can go get a Bradley Beal, if you can go get a Zach LaVine, maybe then you consider it. But some of these guys that we’ve been talking about for over a month or so, you’ll go get them if you can move a protected first and that’s what they had to offer. But now with Anthony Davis out, we don’t know exactly when he’s gonna be back. But how does he come back? So it’s tough to make a move where you’re jeopardizing future assets. We saw them do a little bit of that. They’ve been down that rabbithole already.”
LeBron is still playing some great basketball at nearly 40 years old and he deserves to end his career in a place where he can win championships for years to come.
If the Lakers can’t do that, maybe they’d be better off sending him somewhere else. They can’t do that for quite a while, though. For now, all the team can do is play on and hope for better days ahead.
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