Is trouble brewing for the Los Angeles Lakers?
The Los Angeles Lakers are 2-3 through five games in the NBA’s restart and have been anything but impressive thus far. Injuries are already beginning to pile up for the team (even though most of them are not serious) and the team hasn’t been playing at a high level.
LeBron James has looked rusty more often than not and, on some nights, has looked old. For any Lakers fan, the restart has been everything but great. The Lakers have been one of the worst shooting teams in the restart, and their defense has almost been as bad.
The good news is that Anthony Davis has been good (for the most part) in the restart, averaging 23 points, four assists, and nine rebounds per contest. The hope is that the rest of the team will pick it up in the playoffs.
An odd statement from LeBron James
However, to make matters worse, after the team’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron wasn’t overly positive with his post-game remarks.
In explaining why the Lakers are struggling at Disney, LeBron said there was something going on, off the court, that he couldn’t control, and he’d rather not discuss. That sounds...ominous? Final Thoughts from OKC-LAL https://t.co/b3382do3Ir
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) August 6, 2020
As Joe Vardon notes in the article (subscription required), this does sound ominous. At the same rate, I think it’s important that we don’t completely go overboard here. While LeBron could easily be pointing out a real team issue here, there’s also a chance that this statement could be taken a bit out of context.
Could he be talking about a family issue that is impacting his concentration? Perhaps. Heck, you can’t count out multiple players potentially dealing with outside distractions that they can’t deal with at the moment. That could very well be what LeBron is hinting at here.
In fact, I would actually be somewhat surprised if LeBron was hinting at something taking place in the locker room. Those aren’t necessarily things that a leader like LeBron would bring to light, or even open up to through the media. At least, I wouldn’t think so. Especially considering that the Lakers are one of the shortlist of potential championship contenders in the Western Conference.
Heading into the playoffs, there are no questions that there are on-the-court concerns about the Lakers. Still, they will have a great chance at making the Western Conference Finals and a fair chance, at least, to make the NBA Finals.
The Lakers aren’t prohibitive favorites to win the 2020 NBA title by any means, but let’s also not act like they won’t play a factor either. The Lakers have struggled to open the NBA’s restart, but they’re fine. For now.