“I’m probably going to have a conversation with the coaching staff and my trainer and go from there,” James said “But I love to hoop. S**t, I’m going to have five months and not play the game. So, you know, hopefully, I can be in as many games as possible.”
As the final buzzer sounded on Friday, the Lakers suffered a 111-106 loss to the Nets and were also officially eliminated from postseason contention for the sixth consecutive season. Having signed LeBron James last summer, the Lakers had anticipated returning to the playoff picture this spring.
However, after getting off to a strong start, the Lakers slumped following James’ Christmas Day groin injury and then went just 3-12 since the All-Star break, closing the door on a potential trip to the postseason.
“It’s not what we signed up for. Throughout the year, things happened. Suspensions, injuries, things of that nature,” James told reporters after Friday’s loss. “And just not being able to play sustainable basketball for 48 minutes. But you don’t even try to wrap your head around it, you just keep pushing. Just try to get better tonight, move onto tomorrow, and go from there.”
James’ prolonged absence was not the only obstacle the Lakers faced. Injuries to Lonzo Ball, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Ingram and others contributed to the team’s decline. After Friday’s loss, the Lakers wield a 31-41 record and could finish this season with a worse record than last year’s (35-47).
For head coach Luke Walton, who has seemingly been in the hot seat all season, the message will be to compete. With no playoffs this season and his future uncertain, Walton said it’s the team’s obligation to play strong down the stretch.
“It’s going to be that message every day for the final three weeks,” Walton said. “It’s still about players getting better. It’s still about going out there and respecting the game and giving everything we have to try to win. We owe that, like I said, to ourselves, our teammates, the organization, to the fans.”
As the Lakers prepare for their final 10 games, James — who missed more games than he ever has in a season and is entering his age-35 year — said he plans to play as much as possible, regardless of the team’s standing.
James needs to make an excuse, and sit out the rest of the season. There is nothing to play for besides a lottery pick at this point. Magic better figure things out this season or his legacy will be in a bad place.
And will somehow end up with a top 3 pick
And ad
Magic is a complete simpleton fraud that has absolutely no clue what he’s doing.
He’s a smooth-talking shyster, but can’t back it up. I absolutely love that this whole thing is blowing up in his face.
LeBron is in the final quarter of his career. Believe me, this ain’t gonna get any better. Lol.
This is why Lakers won’t win while LeBron is there and also why many good players don’t wanna be on a team with him. Too much drama!!!
They weren’t winning anything without Lebron
You’re right. They weren’t. But I’ll bet that it would have been fun to see the young players competing and playing hard without the weight of an imaginary deep playoff run hanging over them. It would have been a bunch of young guys learning and maturing and, I’ll bet, providing fans with an enjoyable season that gave them hope for the future rather than the season long drama slog that it became.
They still have plenty of young players. Last year it was the same team with Randle instead of Lebron and we saw what that was like. This year the young guys were massively injruy riddled. If they are out there next year it will be better.
lebrona’s such an insufferable human being no one chased a title w/him in clev or lakers #realtruth
#realweakmemory
Just another example of the patients running the psych ward – when does a coach need to discuss with a player why the team the player was allegedly brought into to lead didn’t fare so well? Shouldn’t Walton have had this conversation with management … oh yeah, “King James” thinks he IS management. Glad this season is almost over.
Anyone who blames Lebron is just looking to troll he did his part. People blaming Walton are looking for a scapegoat. The real problem is Magic. He only has 1 good free agent signing and trade. That was the Cavs salary dump deal and signing Lebron. He can draft ok but thats it. Magic has no clue how to put the rest of the team together. He traded Lou Williams, DLo, Zubac for nothing. Let Randle walk who they had plenty of cap room for and had the rest of the organization begging to bring back. Who in the right mind signs 30+ year old bench players over a young stud. Magic better hope he can land another star because thats the only way this team can get to the next level
People bring up Magic trading DLo like he wanted to do it. And like Mitch Kupchak didn’t leave him with two of the worst contracts in the NBA in Mozgov and Deng. At the time, DLo was not the player he is today anyway. Magic is a terrible GM and hasn’t made a good deal other than getting rid of Nance/Clarkson, but the DLo trade isn’t the deal he should be getting slammed for.
Oh i agree 100% Kupchak was far worse than Magic. Its simple if they land another star the Dlo trade was fine. Thats the only way to make up for it
One of the problems for the Lakers is LeBron wanting to run the team. Many all stars will not sign because Lebron wants it to be about him not the team. GSW stars give up points to win. LeBron needs to admit he needs other stars to win and he wants to be a team player. The GOAT thing has only hurt him not helped.
“After signing THE LEBRON JAMES”
Ah they fixed it. I’m not one to nitpick I just thought it was funny
LBJ played one of his best seasons of basketball, hardly to blame for not making the playoffs, right?
It was a tough year for Lakers fans, 2019 to be specific. After a slow start they seemed to be really coming together culminating with the Christmas Day win over the Warriors. Trade speculation aside, the Lakers have had every significant player in the rotation miss games with Lebron and Lonzo’s injuries dooming this team. Seeing D’Angelo blossom only makes this worse. However the Lakers and more specifically Magic Johnson will be judged on the results of this summer and maybe even up to next year’s trade deadline to find someone to bring the Lakers back to contention