Just two days after he made comments widely interpreted as a call to the Lakers‘ front office to improve the roster, LeBron James had his best game of the season on Friday in Atlanta. James celebrated his 38th birthday by piling up 47 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists en route to 130-121 victory.
James didn’t do it all by himself though — five of his teammates scored in double digits, with Thomas Bryant grabbing 17 rebounds and Russell Westbrook nearly registering another triple-double (14 points, 11 assists, and eight boards). As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, James’ teammates could’ve taken offense to his comments alluding to the roster’s shortcomings, but instead seemed to be galvanized by them.
“I don’t think anyone took that as a slight,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “I think they took it as, ‘You know what? He’s right. We need to pick up our stuff up and really try to apply it in unison, all pulling in the same direction and go compete our butts off.'”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Rohan Nadkarni of SI.com and Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times responded differently to James’ comments from earlier this week about not wanting to finish his career “playing at this level, from a team aspect.” Nadkarni believes the onus is on the front office to listen to LeBron and upgrade the roster, while Plaschke says the Lakers should tell their superstar “no” and focus on retooling the roster by trading him in the offseason. As we outlined earlier today, James is ineligible to be traded during the season.
- On paper, the contract extension James signed in August seemed like it should take some pressure off the Lakers and give the front office some additional time and freedom to operate as it sought roster upgrades. However, that hasn’t really been the case, according to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group, who notes that the team is now under scrutiny for how it manages the end of an all-time great player’s career when he’s dissatisfied with how things are going.
- The Lakers “desperately need a shooter,” an executive tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, but Anthony Davis‘ recovery timeline will play a large part in dictating the team’s path at the trade deadline. “The question is, can another big-time player put them in the mix, because they’re not going anywhere with the way they are currently constructed,” the exec said. “So they have to ask, do you want to borrow against the future to see if you can maximize the present? And then you deal with the future when it comes up. But if Davis isn’t going to be able to play, or he’s playing but not himself, then none of this will really matter anyway.”
- In case you missed it, Davis spoke to reporters about how his recovery from a foot injury is progressing.
The lakers have desperately needed a shooter since 2011
I have only one question
Why didn’t Lakers trade Frank Vogel for Doc Rivers a few months ago?
Doc Rivers is overpaid. Lakers would want compensation from 76ers?
IMO,
Rivers is a better coach than Ham for the regular season
Ham is not going to lead the Lakers to the playoffs
Ham’s been a head coach for all of 36 games.
You’re going to make an opinion of someone’s regular season coaching acumen after 36 games?
Neither Greg Popovich nor Phil Jackson could lead this Lakers team to the playoffs.
Ham has done a better job in LA then doc has in phili.. anyone can roll out embiid and tell everyone to get him the ball every time
Kcp and Kuz was enough to keep Def honest
35~36%
AD hurt again. ….. Lakers could be heading to the Lottery. Next yrs pick is very valuable.
Bron to the Cavs …..
Love, LeVert, Okoro, plus two #1 picks >>>>
To LA ……
Al, Lebron can’t be traded till the summer. He is not going back to Cleveland either. Miami maybe.
Lakers pick is going to the Pelicans.
Lakers shoukd just blow it up…
Trade AD for picks, trade Russ for salary, then next season send LeBron to whomever can give them the most picks and has their sights set on Bronny…
This team ain’t going nowhere and the longer they wait the less they will get on their returns… AD will get injured again, Russ will never play this good for long… So jump now whilst the ship is sinking…
Thomas Bryant was and is such an amazing talent when he can stay healthy