20-14 on December 26; 4th in West Missed 17 games; Lakers went 6-11 26-25 on January 30; 9th in West; 2 games behind 8th seed Clippers 28-23 Returns January 31 6-13 Missed 3 games during that time "Load management" 0-3 Currently 32-41 Overall: 26-27 with him 6-14 without him February 20: LeBron James Says His Playoff Mode Has Been ‘Activated’ As Lakers’ Push for Postseason: “I Enjoy Being Counted Out” Sure they didn't fare well when he was out, dropping from 4th to 9th but they were only 2 games out with 31 games to go. Losing to the Pacers by 42 Losing to the Sixers by 23 Lost to the Hawks "Playoff mode activated" Lost to the Pelicans with AD on a minutes restriction Lost to the Grizzlies Lost to the Suns Lost to the Pistons Lost to the Knicks Lost to the Nets Lost 5 in a row start March (albeit to mostly good teams -- Bucks, Suns, Clippers, Nuggets, Celtics) Lost 5 in a row recently (Raptors, Pistons, Knicks, Bucks, Nets)
Pretty much verifies my "eye test". That team really sucked when LBJ went down. I also don't believe he's 100% healthy. All of that, combined with the strength of the West, is why the Lakers are on the outside looking in. What will be interesting is to see if LBJ can ever return to what he was prior to the groin injury......my gut says no.
In what way is it disingenuous? You gave up nothing to get him. Even if he plays 60% of a season, that should give your team a boost 60% of the time. The idea that they were at one point 3rd in the west would merit something if the west wasn't so tight to begin with. Look at it now, it's still tight. They got an early boost due to excitement and hype and it deflated. I'm not ignoring the facts here, I'm saying with all that greatness, unless the injury cost LeBron the entire season we should see gains from this team. We don't. You're talking about this injury like he missed a major chunk of the season. He missed the same amount of time CP3 did. If you count his load management game after he came back from injury he missed one more game than CP3 did. He can make whatever decision he likes, including his decision to not really bring it this year, I won't scold him for that. He can't however pretend he isn't the primary problem here.
The Lakers fell apart right around the point it became apparent that the NBA wasn’t just going to gift LeBron a star player like Davis. As soon as that happened James went to the media and it was over. Why bust your ass to be an 8 seed with idiots like Ball and Ingram and Kuzma surrounding you? LeBron shut it down... at least this way he will be rested, will have his own coach and pressure on Magic.
Yes, whoever will let James do whatever he wants without consequences. What will be interesting is to see how far the Lakers will be willing to bend to keep James happy. The Lakers are a nasty combo of arrogance and incompetence (Magic and Buss) and may not make deals just because LeBron wants them made. I don’t think people realize the level of rules not applying to James was in Cleveland. There were times that the airplane had all the players for the Cavs on it, and it would sit for hours as James decided to shoot jumpers with a selected teammate or coach. Not a damn thing was said about it.
And they'll have a better pick to trade this summer...this might be overloocked but Boston's best pick (the Kings one) is going to be worst than the Lakers pick.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2022-05-10/jeanie-buss-lakers-change Then there’s the guy who may have more influence than anybody, and Buss will absolutely not apologize for listening to LeBron James. “It’s normal when you have a top player or players you bounce things off of them, I think that’s smart business,” she said. It is also clear that if James wants to leave the team, either this summer or after his contract expires next year, it will be of his own volition. Buss wants to keep him happy enough to remain a Laker and is excited about him breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record next season. “I want him to feel confident in the team, that we have the pieces to win a championship,” Buss said. “He has to be happy. … I want to make sure that he’s happy.” I think the Lakers are doomed... also this bit... She is also getting input from Jackson, a five-time Lakers title coach and her former boyfriend who spends several months a year in Los Angeles. He has become another one of her confidants during this tough stretch. “People see us around town, we have breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever … it’s not anything romantic,” she said. “He’s somebody that knows this environment and knows the challenges I have and wants to see the Lakers successful, so he’s somebody I know doesn’t have any other agenda than for the Lakers to be successful, so he’s somebody that I can lean on.”
Basically, "We want LeBron to break Kareem's all-time scoring record as a Laker so that we can benefit from all of the publicity that comes with the event. After that, IDGAF what he does or where he goes"
Same. At the end of the day it's a credit/testament to his ability to stay healthy for so long and to still be a good player all these years so I'm not bothered by it. I'd rather him break the record as a, say, Sacramento King than a Laker just for ***** and giggles.
I don't like LeBron mainly because of The Decision that pretty much set off the whole players colluding to form superfriends teams trend. He's one of the greatest players ever played. And he should get credit for having a long productive career, just like Kareem did. Just like I don't like Stockton (much more so than LeBron for obvious reasons) but he deserves the assists record because of the long productive career he had.
