As the defending NBA Champions, and the team that happens to house LeBron James, the L.A. Lakers should be inspiring a lot of fear in their opponents.
After all, it did seem like teams were actively avoiding playing them in this year’s playoffs.
But not everyone is convinced they’re the team to beat and, for Charles Barkley, he recently explained why it’s not a foregone conclusion that they’ll be lifting that Larry O’Brien trophy this summer.
“This notion that they can just show up and they’re going to win, nobody is afraid of them. Anthony Davis and LeBron, they haven’t played real basketball in months.
This is going to be an interesting series, to me it’s a pick-em series, but the Lakers are not playing well.”
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1396691045803458563
It’s easy for fans to look at the Lakers and consider them the instant title favorites. They’ve got star power and experience unlike any other team in the league.
But they haven’t looked like a team that’s ready to defend their crown. LeBron and Davis haven’t played up to their standard and the supporting cast hasn’t provided enough to make up for it.
They look lethargic, lost, and hobbled.
While it’s still way too early to count them out, they better wake up soon before this series gets too far out of reach.
