The Los Angeles Lakers did a marvelous job in bagging the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas several weeks ago. Unfortunately for LeBron James and Co., however, it has been all downhill from that point forward.
In their last 10 games, the Lakers have gone 2-8. They are now all the way down at the 11th spot in the West. If the playoffs started today, they wouldn’t even make the Play-In Tournament.
LeBron James Rips Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron is not one to keep to himself when he sees the need to speak out. Following LA’s disappointing 127-113 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, the four-time NBA champ could not help but call out his own team amid their recent struggles:
“I don’t know. I’m not think that far in the past, to be honest,” LeBron responded when asked what he feels went wrong for the Lakers since their In-Season Tournament triumph (h/t Corey Hansford of Lakers Nation). “We just suck right now.”
That’s brutal. Then again, if you’ve been following the Lakers these past few weeks, you can’t really disagree with LeBron.
James then went on to play down LA’s inaugural title win in the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament. It’s not that the 19-time All-Star is invalidating their achievement — LeBron was actually vocal about wanting to add the IST title to his resume). It’s just that the 39-year-old wants everyone to put this win behind them as they look toward the rest of the season:
“That was just two games. That was a small sample,” LeBron noted. “Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas and keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business, that was the In-Season Tournament and we won it, but that was literally just two games.”
At this point, however, LeBron is just keeping his head down as the Lakers look to break their four-game losing slump. James knows that as long as he keeps putting the work in diligently, everything should eventually fall into place:
“What do I do? I show up to work, punch my clock every day, stay positive and go out and try to lead on the floor and inspire on the floor,” the Lakers star added. “That’s what I do.”
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