LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers keep insisting that there is no “rivalry” in L.A. Since LeBron arrived at the franchise, he has downplayed the narrative about a battle for the city, seemingly pointing to the Clippers’ terrible track record of success.
But with spring emerging on the horizon in 2021, it’d be untruthful to say that tension isn’t rising between both parties, especially with the recent development of the situation with Paul George.
Earlier this week, PG caught himself in the crosshairs of Lakers veteran Jared Dudley, who revealed in his book what he and his team really thought of the All-Star swingman. It only boosted the idea of widespread disdain for George, who responded to Dudley’s words with a rather bizarre statement.
In the days that have followed, the media has run away with this story, trying to analyze what’s really going on here.
In an appearance on FOX Sports’ “UNDISPUTED,” Chris Broussard became the latest to chime in with his opinion, citing an obvious lack of respect from the Lakeshow for PG.
“To me, what this ultimately says is that the Lakers have a serious lack of respect for Paul George. Because they talked about billboards they saw in L.A. and we saw the commercials about the Clippers being the “Kings” of L.A. and it’s their town. That was Kawhi, that was more Kawhi than anybody. Then they gave Patrick Beverley a pass — but Beverley was the one that told Steph Curry ‘the next five years belong to us.’ And everybody, including the Lakers, heard that.
There was no reason to single out Paul George as ‘the one’ because here’s the thing: before last year, Paul George was on Anthony Davis’ level.
The only reason to single out Paul George is to go after the guy you don’t respect. You went after an easy mark.”
To the Lakers’ credit, George does speak as if he’s on the level of some other great players, and maybe he believes that he is. Talent-wise, the guy is pretty great with career averages of 20.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on 43.6% shooting.
When it comes to everything else, however, PG isn’t nearly as accomplished. He doesn’t have an MVP, a Championship, or even the credit of making it to the NBA Finals. Year after year, George is seen underperforming in the playoffs, and there is no doubt it has cost his teams over the years.
The only real way for the former Fresno State star to improve his reputation, and earn back the respect of his peers, is to win in a big and undeniable way.
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