A season that started out with so much hope in Los Angeles came to an end Tuesday night against the Lakers. The Lakers are out of play-in contention because of the 11-point loss to the Suns. The Lakers have nothing left to play for in the last few days of the season, other than pride.
I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see him on the court again this season after he sat out last night with an ankle injury. What is the point, right? James was leading the NBA in scoring until he was out of the game for the Pacers. King James did not play, but that performance by Embiid combined with him, propelled the troll past him for the scoring lead at 30.4ppg.
With the Lakers out of the playoffs and their second scoring title out of reach, it's time for him and the organization to look at what went wrong and how they fix it. It is easy to blame James for the moves the team has made since he arrived in Los Angeles. He has played in the NBA, but someone gave him the power to be a co-general manager. James needs to take some of the blame along with Rob Pelinka. If I had seen one, this debacle was a team effort.
The Lakers lost three good players, two of which helped them win the title in 2020. The Lakers had an agreement in place to acquire three-point sharpshooter Buddy Hield from the Kings, but the deal was scuttled by the Westbrook deal. Russ is a better player than Hield. No. He would have been a better fit for this team if they had a consistent deep ball player like Hield. DeMar wanted to return to LA to become a Laker. DeRozan was interested until he visited the Lakers.
Over the last 12 years, what's happening with the Lakers seems to be a recurring theme for James. It has been four years since James left Cleveland. Things begin to fall apart when his teams win at least one title in the middle of the year, and then James is on to the next destination. We are at the end of the fourth season of the adventure that is the career of the man. I don't see him packing up and heading for another city this time.
The Miami Heat culture wasn't enough to make it a series against the San Antonio Spurs. James was on his way back to Cleveland after the Heat lost to the Spurs in five games. After winning 54 the previous season, Miami lost 37 games after James left. They went to four NBA Finals in a row, winning the first NBA title in year two. James moved to Hollywood after the fourth season. For the first time since James left the team, they made the playoffs this year.
Once he moves on, those teams are left without young talent because he destroyed their roster and rebuilt it with mostly veteran players. He will be sticking around after the destruction. You should blame whoever you want. Lakers management needs to take back control of their franchise. They had 16 titles before James thought about moving to LA.
The Lakers need to figure out what they are going to do about Anthony Davis. This is a higher priority. If they want to go that route, it's going to be hell moving. There is still value in Davis stock on the trade market. Davis is 29 years old, he is finishing up his 10th season in the league, and he only played 75 games in his career. Davis had a bad year. It wasn't just because of the injuries. He hasn't played like a top 10 player. We know that injuries are part of the concern with Davis.
LA needs to either trade Davis or ride him out and watch his value plummet. A star is no good to the team if he is constantly out due to injury. LA would have to take good role players and draft picks for Davis if the Lakers could talk Portland into a trade. At this point, the Lakers need to begin preparing for post-Lebron, but James wouldn't like this. He will probably play a couple more years, but the Lakers don't want to end up like the Heat, or even themselves after Kobe Bryant retires.
Everyone should be on notice. Davis shouldn't feel like his spot with the Lakers is safe. The team needs to get younger. Howard, Anthony, Ariza, Augustin, and Bradley are all expendable. The players are all 31 or older. James is at least 34 years old. We know it doesn't work after seeing an entire season of the experiment.
Blow this thing up and start over. Do you want to surround James with better-fitting pieces? The Lakers won't compete in their own division if they bring back most of the same roster next season. Forget about the conference. The Kings are in the same division as the Lakers. Think about this. The Lakers are more than 30 games behind first-place Phoenix. That isn't very similar to Laker.
The time has come for the Lakers to be themselves. Go time. Everyone on the team can go somewhere else. It is time to hit the reset button in LA. There is no other way around it.
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