LeBron James was among the players missing for the Los Angeles Lakers for their clash with the San Antonio Spurs at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. James sat out due to left foot arthritis, and he shared an interesting message on Instagram prior to tip-off.
“Behind every happy couple is the reality that a relationship isn’t 50/50. Some days, one person is struggling – whether it’s stress, grief, or exhaustion, and the other has to step up and hold steady. Happy couples don’t keep scores.”
LeBron on IG: pic.twitter.com/UZc4gSPLqB
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) February 11, 2026
Now, one might assume that James was talking about his relationship with his wife, Savannah James, but Lakers fans think otherwise. They believe this is about his relationship with team management.
“Clearly directed at his relationship with the Lakers,” one fan is convinced this was about the Lakers.
“The whole time he was talking about Jeanie,” a fan believes James was referring to Lakers governor Jeanie Buss.
“This, but it’s directed at his bum a** squad,” one thinks James is unhappy with the team around him.
Well, we can say with a certain degree of certainty that James would like the supporting cast to be upgraded. The 41-year-old made it clear after Monday’s 119-110 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that the Lakers aren’t a championship team. He claimed they cannot sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes like the Thunder, the defending champions.
Despite the team’s flaws, the Lakers’ front office decided against making any significant move at the trade deadline. They only brought in Luke Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks for Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick.
The Lakers are showing by their actions that they are prioritizing winning during Luka Doncic’s prime over building the best team possible around James at the end of his career. Making win-now moves that could negatively impact their chances of building the ideal roster around Doncic in a year or two isn’t something they’re interested in doing.
That’s not what you’d want if you’re James. He is desperate to win another championship before he walks away from the game and would like a front office that’s willing to go all in.
James’ relationship with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and that front office hasn’t been all that great in recent years. They just haven’t done a good enough job in terms of putting together the ideal supporting cast around him. Had Doncic not fallen on the Lakers’ lap in 2025, you wouldn’t have been all too optimistic about their prospects moving forward.
It will be very interesting to see what James and the Lakers do this summer when he becomes a free agent. Would he want to stay? How hard will they try to keep him? Well, the Lakers will reportedly ask James to take a massive pay cut if he wants to return, and you wonder if he’d be interested in that. Time will tell.
As for the here and now, the Spurs blew out the Lakers 136-108 to drop them to 32-21. James should be back for their next game against the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday at 10 PM ET.
