Friday night’s tragic loss officially made this season L.A.’s worst since the start of the LeBron James era.
Worse still, it severely hurt their chances for the play-in tournament, which was the team’s last hope of squeezing into the playoffs. Lakers Nation was, predictably, pretty upset.
While his stat line was impressive, not even “King” James was immune from criticism online, as fans and analysts laid into his performance in the closing moments of the game.
With the season hanging in the balance, James hoisted up an airball that basically summed up how this season has been for the Purple and Gold
LEBRON TO SALVAGE A PLAY IN SPOT AT THE BUZZER
YEAR 19. https://t.co/TDQhHev1DR
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 2, 2022
LeBron is now 0-13 from 3 in the clutch…..THIS YEAR. This is the worst single-season display of clutch shooting in NBA history.
Again, all of these air balls and bricks in the clutch are from THIS YR. pic.twitter.com/OSZ1sJPdcI
— BossHogg (@6Hogg6) April 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/DrGuru_/status/1510122107488903170
LORD HAVE MERCY: LeBron ends the Lakers' biggest game of the year with an air ball. LeBron fails to close yet another game begging to be closed. LeBron couldn't close a car door. No clutch gene.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 2, 2022
this wasn’t an april fools joke after all https://t.co/DQ2BLDxvEz
— Unanimous🥇 (@Golden302311) April 2, 2022
The @Lakers lost. @KingJames made that April Fool's joke about being out for rest of the season & jinxed his team. He should know Karma is a Bitch.
— Extremely Verbal (@Lady_LeeVada) April 2, 2022
Lebron couldn’t close a car door LMFAOOOO 😭
— ً (@Dubsln4) April 2, 2022
Lebron for the tiiiiee pic.twitter.com/JG5ozlvxAC
— alex manriquez (@aheezy24) April 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/dadd13t/status/1510128068077109252
Don't ever tell me Lebron is the 🐐 Jordan and Kobe would never. 🤣pic.twitter.com/L5Fz9sESU1
— NBA Strife ツ (@strifeomg) April 2, 2022
PELS WIN LFGGGG LEBRON BRICK TO WIN🧱🏠
— GunnarGlazer (@RMonk98) April 2, 2022
It was an ugly three from James, and he certainly deserves some heat for missing so badly during such an important moment. In fact, this whole season will not bode well for the King’s legacy.
“I’m not gonna demote LeBron on my list,” said Skip Bayless, on how this season will impact how we remmeber LeBron. “He still ranks 9th. But I will say this: what has happened to his Los Angeles Lakers this season has indelibly stained LeBron’s legacy. I remind you, these Lakers were favored to win it all and I remind you they’re not even going to make the play-in tournament They’re going to finish 18 games under .500. That’s impossibly awful for the King. 18 games under 500? I’ll give you a dozen games this year that the King should have closed and failed to close because he doesn’t have the clutch gene nor the closer gene.”
But he is far from the Lakers’ biggest problems. In fact, without LeBron, the season would have ended for the Lakers long ago.
A mixture of bad health, poor chemistry, and miscommunication have created the perfect storm of dysfunction for the squad. Not even the return of Anthony Davis could save them.
While there is technically still a chance for L.A. to make the play-in, they might be better off heading straight to free agency. It’s time to go back to the drawing board.
