Dwyane Wade on JJ Redick comments about the Lakers effort:
“LeBron on his golf simulator right now, he’s not worried about this.
I love how lebron finally discovers golf and now seems ready to retire after this year. A feeling many of us know lol
Going to put out a ‘I’m Back’ NBA press release after he shoots 128, 48 hours after having finally solved his swing.
I’m in this photo and I don’t like it
Earlier this year I hit 19 fairways in a row over two rounds on back to back days. Going into the 2nd back 9 I was ahead of my best ever score by like 3-4 shots, by the 14th hole I stopped counting my strokes, couldn’t even put a ball in play. Golf comes at you fast.
Well actually golf comes at you slow when you’re hunting for your lost ball 10x on the front 9.
Makes a man wanna learn how to hit a change up
I don’t come here to be personally attacked.
He’s just like me fr
Another one has found the light 🙏 ⛳️ 🙏
I used to hate golf. I’ve been a sports fanatic my entire life and used to watch ESPN into the late hours as a kid. I remember getting pissed watching golf in the top ten.
I started listening to a sports podcast a few years ago, The Tony Kornheiser podcast (shoutout PTI), and he talked about golf a lot during the summer months. I find him very funny, so I never skipped it but I learned a lot about the players. Then I watched Full Swing and realized that I knew nothing about the sport.
I’ve been hooked ever since. For a guy that used to hate watching the one minute of air time Sportscenter would dedicate to golf highlights, I now watch most PGA tournaments from Thursday to Sunday. I also love playing when I can afford to. It’s so much fun.
Your pro golf propaganda can never change my mind unc
it’s digital chemtrail. not falling for it
It’s a guaranteed money hole as well. It is fulfilling but the urge to get new gear, new outfits, getting into new courses is a real thing.
I ski and I just smile through the financial pain. Another sport like golf would kill me
🌬️
F1 weirdos literally give the same schpiel.
I love F1. I love watching cars drive in circles. But then again, I’m literally autistic lmao
something something trains
Lol. One of my friends got into F1 and then golf within a few years of each other. I already golf, but never got into F1.
“I’m too athletic and cool for golf”. But then old man age catches up with me. It happens to us all
Thanks for sharing this! Mind explaining why you like it so much now? As an art, the athleticism required, etc etc. I’m not a golf guy but I’ve been intrigued before
I didn’t realize how intense it can be. The difference between 1st and 2nd place isn’t just a championship, sometimes it’s millions of dollars. Any given stroke can lose you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There’s also guys fighting for a spot on the Ryder Cup teams, which is an international team tournament held every two years pitting the United States against Europe. So, even if they might not be competing for championships, they’re competing for a coveted spot on the team.
Outside of the elite players, there’s also guys that are fighting to keep their PGA Tour card. There’s only so many players on the Tour, so there are players that lose their card and people that manage to barely survive.
One of the things I love most is that you cannot win a tournament on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, but you can certainly lose it. Meaning, you can shoot a course record on a Thursday and then have three bad rounds and finish outside the top 25. You can also have the lead for the entire tournament and then triple bogey a hole and blow the whole thing.
Also, since I started playing, I just admire the craft. The game is fucking hard. Like really fucking hard. The way they have their yardages dialed in, shape their shots and create backspin is incredible. There’s a lot of YouTube golf stuff that really shows the difference between even low level professionals and really good golfers. Like Brian Scalabrine, “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.”
I also just love that it’s a change of pace as far as intensity. I get hyped watching football and basketball, much to the chagrin of my wife who doesn’t like sudden cheers. But she actually enjoys sitting on the couch with me while I watch. It’s kind of pleasant. Soft commentary with birds chirping it kind of nice. Same with playing. You’re just out there in open air having fun.
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t asked too many people about this. Hoping to keep playing rec sports but don’t want my knees to fall off with age either lol
The Gareth Bale special
Wine. Golf. Lakers. In that order
ABSOLUTELY it is all consuming once you catch the bug and he has access to the best of everything as it pertains to golf so I can’t even imagine LOL!!
I worked at a prestigious golf community in uni.
I wish I had bron money I’d just tour the world’s courses with the family.
Dude is on his Gareth Bale arc
Laker fanbase was sad about Lebron’s imminent retirement tour. Then Luka came. Now they can’t kick him out of the building fast enough lmao. Fuck off old man!!!
I mean the discourse was loud when Kobe started sucking badly in 2016. So much so Kobe announced his retirement tour. Then it was all love knowing it was his last season
Lmao I remember that. Kobe needs to take a paycut or something and retire man this is crazy. He’s holding the team back from competing…..OH GOD KOBE NO DON’T RETIRE ON US
Then when he left, the Lakers continued to suck lol
They had a lot of young talent they were developing so it made sense they sucked.
We sucked but it was a lot of fun
Baby laker days were actually the best.. felt like we had nothing to lose lol
Especially in 2018 when we had no draft pick lol. That team was fun to watch but trading them for AD will always be worth it
Especially since AD was the piece they used to get Luka. I just know Rob Pelinka had the biggest smile on his face when he realized the Mavs were actually serious.
Amnesty Kobe Bryant was such a crazy time
To put in context, Kobe was done competing for a championship once he tore his achilles at age 35. It was just a matter of playing out his contract which he had signed the off season after he tore it. So fans were getting impatient with the fact that Kobe was often injured and had signed a max after getting devastating injury and felt his massive salary and lack of availability was holding back in terms of signing free agents due to lack of cap space and blamed Kobe for it
The truth is that every year you have a Luka caliber player on the roster you need to be trying to win or at least going in the direction of building a championship caliber roster
A 41 year old is the exact opposite of that
every year you have a Luka caliber player on the roster
This is almost every season for the Lakers though! Could go back even further (Jerry West, Baylor, Mikan, arguably Lakers Wilt), but from Kareem on:
It’s much more rare when the Lakers DON’T have at least one Luka level talent on the team.
Calling Magics return and Kobe’s later years as “Luka caliber” is just not true
Yea Kobe stopped being on that level after his Achilles tear. It was fun having him on the roster but realistically that gap is from 2014-2018, NOT 2016-2018.
Yeah I just gave their full timelines with the Lakers, agreed there are some less than Luka calibre years in there for a number of the players - Kobe’s first few seasons weren’t at that level either, or Kareem’s last few seasons. Still, they’ve had 1-2 Luka calibre player(s) on the team for ~35 of the past 50 seasons.
For most teams, having a Luka calibre player on the team is an “OMG these next few years are our only shot at a ring in decades” situation. For the Lakers, though, it really isn’t, it’s the status quo.
Lakers also had basically prime Shaq in Kobe’s first few years.
I’d say 2013-14 to 2017-18 and 1991-92 to 1995-96 are the only times in the last 50 years that they haven’t had a Luka level guy. So 80% of the time they have.
And just for shits and giggles I’d go further back and say 1973-75 are the only pre-1975 years without a Luka level talent (Wilt, West, Baylor) until you get back to their Minneapolis days.
You missed out Sedale Threatt 1991⁄92 to 1995⁄96
he and Cedric Ceballos had a similar vibe to luka/lebron this year. lot of uncertainty over whose team it was, your turn my turn stuff. on the surface they were cool but real heads know things got toxic between them that season
Agreed with your overall premise, but I do still think LeBron is good enough to play a role on a contender.
The real issue isn’t so much that he’s 41 and past his prime, it’s that he’s 41 and still insists on playing starter minutes while being paid \(50m a year. Even if LeBron was playing the upper end of bench player minutes while being paid the upper end of bench player salary (\)20m or so), that would free up $30m cap space for the Lakers to bring in younger starter level replacement, and go a long way.
Lebron ain’t ever taking a pay cut or playing off the bench.
You would bench a player averaging 26/6/6 on good efficiency?
You realize those are essentially Cade Cunningham numbers right? And he’s averaging those numbers while playing with the highest usage player in the league and while averaging one of the lowest usage rates of his career.
Yeah these people are certified stupid. He’s doing this also while losing most of his athleticism
Or bigger issue with him is the lack of hustle and defense. But that’s a roster issue. I think what he brings offensively would be worth his defense on a team that wasn’t so poor defensively. Imagine him on like the Twolves.
That’s a flawed comparison though. Cade’s rookie extension is basically the same annual salary as LeBron, but a big part of his contract value is essentially speculative - it’s saying we understand there’s a lot of potential upside at 24, so if we want to tie him down for 5 years we have to pay for that upside. It’s sort of like when a stock value jumps on the news earnings MIGHT go up, even if it might take years to see an actual impact on profitability.
LeBron is the opposite - at 41 he’s almost certainly only going to decline from here. The Lakers don’t have a good enough squad at the moment to win a chip, so LeBron is basically taking the equivalent of a max rookie extension player with a lot more potential upside who could play with Luka another 5 years as they build towards a roster which can seriously contend, in exchange for a declining star.
Point is, for \(53m you either need to be putting up stats consistent with a top 10 player with minimal injury concerns, or have a ton of long-term upside. LeBron on more of a \)20-$30m salary range with a reduced role would be much better for the Lakers, especially if they brought in players who could gradually take some load away from him but have time to assimilate while Bron still plays a lot of minutes. The real issue is the player’s association would hate this, because from a purely financial standpoint LeBron is arguably underpaid if anything given he’s a household name.
The way some of you are talking in this thread you’d think he was some corpse struggling to get 12ppg it’s wild lmao. Why wouldn’t he play starter minutes when he’s literally been the lakers second best player since he’s recovered more from his injury?
The problem with this is that by production lebron was obviously worth his salary last year. I think it’s too soon to judge this year; he looked rough last December too and wound up second team all NBA
It’s so weird how seemingly only LeBron gets so much talk about his salary. Even last year where he provided about top 15 value on the court which was an exact match with his salary.
Curry for example is the highest paid NBA player this year and next year and not once have I seen it brought up.
It’s a legacy tax. You won with him so he commanded the money and now you have to retire with him. Especially since nobody could reasonably afford to trade for him.
That’s how legends should be treated. You can’t take the good without the bad too. Lakers fans think they can just win every year and be gifted every superstar.
What franchise gets hifted superstars as much as the lakers
Pretty much every contender would love a 41 year old Lebron as their 3rd-6th man. If they had him running OKC’s 2nd unit from tomorrow, the record season would be back on again.
Right but LeBron is making 51 million a year lol. If you’re actually trying to win you wouldn’t pay him that much
You don’t have a 6th man making a max contract
He’s too old for a max, but too good for a min-mid contract.
He’s making what Shai and Chet are making combined essentially
No, OKC would not love to have him for how much he makes
Terrible comparison considering it only makes sense cause Chet is on the last year of his rookie contract. As of next season Chet will be making just as much as lebron is right now
His contract is the issue. Paying 2025-2026 LeBron $50m isn’t what you want, especially if you’re aiming for him to be a role player or sixth man
26/6/6 on good efficiency isn’t a role player just FYI
He’s not averaging 26 ppg, this season he’s averaging 20/5/7. Above role player, a good third option, but not worth $50m a year
It’s wild how many LeBron stans are spouting that he’s averaging 26/6/6. They truly believe this.
on a vet min absolutely
*What’s a King to a Don?* -Laker fans
There’s a segment of the Lakers fanbase who have always hated LeBron because a) they’re Kobe die hards and b) they could see he was just doing a retirement chapter there and now it kinda has dragged too long for more of the fanbase
The Game of Zones has an episode on LeBron coming to LA and dealing with the Kobe fanatics lmao. Refusing to kneel to him as their new king because of allegiance to Kobe
“You’ll never be Kobe bruv”
“I’m not trying to be”
“Well you should!”
His retirement chapter is now his longest single stint on a team and 1⁄3 of his career. Also they won a ring, although 1 ring in 8 years is kinda shit for the Lakers.
The end is rarely pretty for these dudes.
obviously his choice but I don’t know why he’s still playing tbh
Like, he’s not on a contender, he’s obviously not AS invested as he used to be, he’s still really good, but doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself out there
Because he gets paid a max contract in the nba lol
He’ll still have media and advertising contracts until he’s an old old man. Contract with the NBA is valuable but he does have clear options.
If he really wants to be involved in an ownership of a team, this is by far the way to make the most money fastest
I think if he became a competitive chessboxer it’d be a slightly faster way to make money
Da Mystery of Chessboxing
He will never make 50 million again to play basketball, why are we still pretending like rich people turn down money just because they have other income streams when they don’t. Look at inside the nba they are seniors and still working.
knowing how cheap lebron is, ain’t no way he’s throwing away 53M.
He’s LeBron of course he has many options but people pretend like marketing campaigns and media is the same as max nba money. Having guaranteed 50 million a szn come in is not easily replaced lol. He can easily coast another 3 years and bag another 100 million minimum, can’t really do that elsewhere. Plus we’re all assuming the LeBron brand will be as fruitful like Jordan’s brand was, tbh I don’t see Bron being as influential or talked about once he’s retired. Only maybe when a documentary comes out but that’s it.
Amazon prime is going to back up the brinks truck for him.
Not $53M though lol
While true, it’ll be sorta close. Fox pays Brady 38m a year
Brady is the undisputed GOAT in the NFL.
The NFL is a much more profitable league than the NBA.
Even with that, Brady’s contract still pays less than what LeBron gets on an annual basis.
LeBron is undisputed the GOAT of the modern era and at worst, top 3 all time.
NBA media members get paid pretty damn well. Shaq is pulling \(15m, Kenny around the same, and we know chuck is cleaning up. I think he was at \)20m+. There’s tons of money in the NBA media. Brady’s contract broke the scale for the NFL media. Greg Olson was the previous #1 color analyst for Fox and he was pulling \(10m before Brady got \)37.5m for the same job.
I didn’t say he’d make more in the media than as a player, but being a media member is way cushier. He can do other things with his time, doesn’t have to travel as much, etc.
These responses are always so lame.
Just for some perspective — let’s say you have 5k in savings at the bank and that’s your net worth. Would you be out there grinding at a job that pays you 250 dollars a year? Because that’s what we are talking about here, literal billionaire LeBron James isn’t sweating 50 million dollars.
The real reason is guys like LeBron, Messi or Ronaldo are brands unto themselves, and their business is tied into them being pro athletes. They’ll keep playing as long as they can, or until they’re in a position where they can stop and their investments allow them to keep growing their brand.
He can play, but I promise you he’ll be surprised how much teams actually offer him next year.
He sells out arenas, most teams are offering him lol
[deleted]
Merchandise revenue is shared among the league though.
He’s retiring
Knowing LeBron, he’s going to want a farewell tour. If he retires. He’s going to let everybody know before his final season starts
50 million dollars to rest 25 games per year? Why the hell not lol. He’s legit just travelling the country and working out to play a game. He doesn’t play defense and barely practices. Fuck it keep signing me if you want.
At this point I’d imagine “traveling the country” isn’t a big perk of being in the NBA for him
23 years of flights and flying out at shit hours of the evening/morning for away back to backs gets pretty old pretty fast. 53 million is obviously 53 mill, dude probably doesn’t know anything else at this point lol.
It’s a little different flying economy vs private team jet. It still sucks but it cannot be that bad. I’ve flown first class and it’s infinitely better.
First class and private jets are not comparable. It’s like trying to compare the “nice” playground set at a park to 6 flags.
Flying private is obviously cool, however flying at some of the hours they have to fly at still sucks. Then do that for multiple times a year for 23 years.
LeBron might not be able to afford to travel when he retires
Does everyone forget literally a month ago? Dude was out there cheesing like crazy loving basketball. Now we lose a few games, play like shit and are injured and its all about bron doesnt gaf why he even playing??? Memories of goldfish
People are reactionary. If the Lakers pull off a streak the narrative changes. Again
That’s just lebrons entire career summed up. The haters have shown it doesn’t matter what is happening or how it happened, they will just cast negativity onto the situation.
How much does money even matter?
Im always surprised by this line of thought. LeBron has enough money and enough avenues to make more money that he and many upcoming generations of his family will be set. I mean if its managed properly basically for an indeterminate amount of time.
What is actually the perk of making the money if he doesn’t want to play?? Its clear he still wants to play. Hes chasing records and cementing his legacy. Just because the interest is in individual accomplishments and not as much in winning a ring doesnt mean he isnt there to play.
Honestly think its for his son. I really dont get why he put his son in this position cause it was 100% him moving heaven and earth to get him in the NBA.
But Lebron for whatever reason has wanted his son to play in the NBA he has mentioned it in the past hundreds of times about how it would be the dream. Its sadly but honestly probably the most time he has ever had or could spend with a kid, if you really think about it and all his obligations he has.
I don’t get why he put his son in this position cause it was 100% him moving heaven and earth to get him in
The family business is making millions hooping, getting his son into the family business is priority #1
Now Bronny has his own millions
Bronny had millions through social media + endorsement deals prior to stepping on an NBA court.
He’s got to be tired of this shit. The man may never pick up another basketball again after retirement
It’s all these guys know. Change is hard.
Edit: I’m not trying to cape up for pro athletes, especially the ones at LeBron’s level of wealth and accomplishment - but retirement for pro athletes, (especially the greats) is like a mini-death for them and especially for their egos.
Your entire identity and reason for being changes when you finally hang ‘em up. I don’t begrudge anyone who plays longer than the fans think they should. If y’all wanna get mad at old players playing longer than they should be, you should be angry at the GMs who give them the contracts.
These guys love basketball and it’s all they know. Why wouldn’t they play for as long as physically possible, especially when the pay is so ridiculously good? They’re spoiled brats, but they still love their job far more than most do.
Yeah, LeBron has literally spent more years in the NBA than he did before the NBA. Its also an obsession and the urge to go until you can’t anymore. Its why Brady played for so long, destroying his marriage in the process and said that he would need therapy after he retired
Doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself? If you saw him close out their last game against the sixers in Philly you’d see a man that was having a great ol’ time
I don’t know if he’s still “really good” at least not on a large contract. Advanced stats have suggested he’s been free falling in terms of impact this season which matches the eye test
He probably had it in his head that it’s this season and next, and was taken back by the Luka trade which leaves them here. The team just isn’t good enough and hasn’t been in several years. That’s a FO problem dating back to 2021 when they ditched they ditched Javale & Dwight for the corpse of Marc Gasol and everything since.
At least with AD they’d always hope for a puncher’s chance in the playoffs, now they’re gonna get mauled by the offenses of any top team in a series with shit to do about it.
How is he not on a contender
Trade Lebron to Utah.
He’d love it, Lauri’s having a great life
What if he introduced LeBron to disc golf, then he’d really want to retire.
I can just see LeBron sitting on some back path by the creek, rolling a joint on his disc.
LeDiscGolfKing
And then he gets the competitive itch and joins a Ultimate Frisbee team. I would love to see 40 year old LeBron just demolishing in that sport.
So, the Lakers put forth a shitty effort in their Christmas game where the coach was compelled to call out the team in the postgame conference. LeBron is the leader or one of the leaders of the team, and he’s not worried about this? I’m not seeing how this is an actual defense from Wade. Isn’t LeBron one of the best players of all time, this is his leadership? Shouldn’t he have his coach’s back on this?
You make this comment as if LeBron said it lmao
Lebron did say it, I heard him say it after he punched my wife and burned my crops
Because LeBron achieved everything he could in the NBA and is still one of the ‘faces’ of the league and team
How are the golf courses compared to LA?
Lebron is on his Lightening McQueen Cars 3 arch now.
arc
Your right
you’re
Lightning
I get it’s funny to joke about but if my team is paying a guy like $50mm a year or whatever he’s getting paid, I’d be a little miffed about his effort.
I get it’s Lebron and he’s aging, but are we just going allow a team to be a mockery because he’s in his twilight years and doesn’t want to try?
Yes, yes we are.
Were you not around for Kobe’s last couple of years with the Lakers? 😂
They didnt have Luka or a player of his caliber on the team. We were tanking for picks so old Kobe chucking was fine for our plans. Now it is not.
Exactly. Not at all the same. Kobe ended 25% of his seasons as a Laker with a championship. He cared about the Lakers and he cared about winning. LeBron will waste as many Luka years as he wants for LeBron.
A couple weeks ago the Lakers had a back to back and LeBron played the Raptors. Had a nice pass and Rui hit a 3 to win. LeBron must have hurt himself patting himself on the back because he sat out the next game in Boston. If you care about that rivalry at all, that is pathetic.
Kobe is no LeBron. His body didn’t hold up to play a million seasons and score as many points. But LeBron is no Kobe either. If you prefer LeBron that’s fine. But they were in no way similar with how they approached the game of basketball.
Kobe also won 5 rings for the team. His leash was a lot longer.
Kobe was washed… but the rest of the Lakers were also bad, so who the fuck cares if he’s getting paid like a max player to put up empty stats and lose when they were so far from being contenders?
The Lakers have Luka, who is one of the best players in the league right now. So there is definitely an argument to be made that a half-assing LeBron on a max deal playing most of the game is one of the things holding them back.
Add to it that even if LeBron has had a better career than Kobe, Kobe was a more beloved Laker. So the fanbase doesn’t have the same patience for LeBron that they did with Kobe.
there was no Luka on those teams though
yeah that was his thanks for bringing us 4 championships over the years
Edit: 5, my bad
Wouldn’t it be 5 or 2(without shaq)
5
This is Lebron’s 23rd season. He’s been the face of the NBA for two decades. He’s going to get his “thank you for everything” season or two somewhere. Seems to be starting now. LA should be (and mostly are) honored that he chose the Lakers.
He already won one with you guys, the team is still moving in a good direction, and the championship window is going to be a few years down the line, so I think yall can suck it up and let him golf between games for a season or two. He’s more than earned it.
Is Luka trying on defense? Or AR giving lakers any defensive impact? No lol. And lebron is still face of the nba. He is printing money for lakers. Im pretty sure ownership is very happy to having him on the team.
The way you all talk about him you’d think he was a scrub.
20/5/7 coming off an injury.. like what are we talking about here?
I get it’s Lebron and he’s aging, but are we just going allow a team to be a mockery
4th in the West btw lmao what the fuck is bro talking about
Lakers aren’t 1st or 2nd in the first 30 games of the regular season the year is doomed!!
Idiots can’t even wait until after ASB to make these “I’m so smart I could tell things were going awry” posts.
Its the regular season though?
Zero Dark Thirty will activate soon enough.
He stopped doing that in 2019 after it backfired…
Yes it’s the Lakers
I love when we hit the “LeBron has a bad game -> he should take a minimum or retire” stage of the cycle. See y’all back here next month.
This isnt even about him having a bad game. His effort is just way too bad and his offense isnt good enough yo justify it anymore
Yah it’s clear the lakers and Lebron himself are still managing this injury and his effort is constrained to preserve him for the rest of the season. I’d like to see him fully recovered before I reserve any real judgement. Because it’s obvious he is still not 100% after missing 14 games this season
He is washed. Once great game every 3 weeks doesn’t negate that fact.
He’s good more often than he’s bad; and people were saying this exact same thing last December and he wound up an unquestioned top 10 player and 2nd team all NBA
I know it’s a joke but I’ve seen most of the lakers games and LeBrons dgaf attitude really sticks out
Never really seen that from him before either so it’s surprising especially when the lakers can be a pretty good team
I think LeBron sees this team as having no chance which is really problematic
This has been Brons thing for like a decade plus. He goes 70% max in the regular season. He’s just 41 years old now and the rest of the team doesn’t have enough to allow that. He’s his teams best functional athlete STILL. It looked different when he played with a 2 way monster who could cover most of that stuff.
He’s coming off Sciacta too, this is more of a failure of teambuilding. Everyone should know what the deal with him in the regular season is. And if the best player on the team also isn’t an energy and effort guy it’s a compounding issue.
You’re talking nonsense lol
Before the game against the Rockets, Lebron was playing well on BOTH sides of the court for the prior 5 games. He played especially hard against the Spurs, despite getting destroyed.
He look old and slow af before those games, because he had no pre season and no ability to play and improve his fitness.
He was terrible against the Rockets, no question. So were Luka, Rui, Ayton and Reaves (defensively)
The overreaction is insane lol
You can tell who watches games and who watches their reddit feed
A lot of these people just hate LeBron, have hated him for YEARS, and are always just waiting for the next downswing so they can pile on the hate again. Since LeBron has played so long, the cycle has gotten extremely predictable. None of these comments are even remotely new, and in a week or two when the lakers have a good stretch, they’ll all either go back into hiding or pretend “see? This is how things change when LeBron starts caring”
lol that’s the problem. Not a LeBron hater by any means but if you aren’t that interested just retire. Taking up a huge portion of the cap and is still a great player but can’t be half in half out
I dont think you’re gonna do what you preached if you’re in his position with 50mil for the year
Yes he’s getting paid a large salary and you need production from that large of a slot, but he’s right that it’s unreasonable for JJ to be expecting the moon here. There are indeed other players on the roster, LeBron isn’t going to be the one setting the standard like he used to.
It’s an issue with the Lakers roster construction. It’s not gonna be Luka either. Austin Reeves is nice on offense but he’s not a high level defensive player. That’s 3⁄5 of the starting lineup! They just don’t have the right personnel to maximize a guy like LeBron OR Luka, good as those guys are individually.
Yeah everyone is quick to blame one or the other when all 3 combined is very flawed to start with. They’re also starting rui who is absolutely useless if not fed wide open shots, like Lebron at 40 is a better defender it’s crazy. They are a team full of one trick ponies when the standard for winning is having multiple two-way players, the Lakers arent winning anything anytime soon after that blockbuster trade or even if they didnt.
But if you’re on a team with LeBron and he’s half-assing it, why are you going to do more?
i mean you can blame lebron and his contract all you want
the truth of the matter is
the lakers suck
and because luka and AR can’t defend a paper bag, you want lebron james at 41 years old to be both lebron james, and a DPOY level 100% defensive minded player to cover their asses
motherfucker, lebron is 41 years old, how are you trying to ask this man to give 100% effort to cover not one, not two, but THREE other starters on the floor that can’t play a lick of defense?
like what the fuck do you mean? that’s a tall ask from even 30 year old lebron
“be lebron james, but also you have to give more effort on defense than you ever had to on your life because these other three dudeS? yeah, you have to wipe their asses for them because they don’t know how to play defense so you have to be lebron on offense and also straight up cover for 3 other dudes”
So they have to sell AR and get a defence guy instead
People talking about LeBron’s effort being the problem when they spent all offseason circlejerking about how great of shape Luka had gotten himself into and then he ends up being the same lazy fucker when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.
Luka actually getting fatter right before our eyes which is even crazier.
You just know the Luka trade sabotaged the hell out of LeBron’s retirement plan.
And he’s done nothing but show that he’s pissed about it.
This is fine if a guy is on the veteran minimum, but Bron is making 52m this year. That is more then 1 / 3 of the team payroll for basically having a retirement tour when hs is not injured? Cmon man…
You are saying current Lebron has veteran minimum impact 😭😭😭
He has vet min effort
Is that John Wall? It looks like he’s enjoying retirement
You ask that as if he doesn’t look exactly the same lol
His face looks a little more fuller, indicative of less training and probably getting some good R&R in.
He fat now dawg
He definitely wants to retire after this season. He’s not really hiding his idgaf attitude about the season lol
Yeah Dwayne, that’s kind of the problem you donkey.
Out of curiosity, when did the Lakers become LeBron’s team again? Because all off-season & until last week, all people could say was that this wasn’t Bron’s team anymore, that everything runs through Luka & Reaves, that Bron ain’t the leader & is going to have to take a backseat, etc.
Now the team’s losing again, we’re asking LeBron to set the culture, to raise the floor for everybody on the court & do all the things a team leader is supposed to do & I’m confused. I thought Luka was the leader, why is he suddenly incapable of leading his team & the culture needs to be set by the 41 year old “nobody wants in LA anymore???”
Coz the past three games are all losses with the starters in and out of the lineup so it’s all Lebron’s fault 😤😤
I do think Lebron should retire after this year. He’s clearly diminished, finally. I think he should end it before he becomes fully washed
I don’t think LeBron would call it after the year. I’m sure he’ll announce it before his last season. Do teams can pay tribute. Remember the retirement tour Derek Jeter got? I agree with you, but we both know LeBron just can’t walk away like that lol.
Somebody come get this dude the fuck off my team. If you don’t want to play then retire.
Bro he’s putting in more defensive effort than Luka or reaves, and that’s a massive problem
He definitely isnt.. in fact its the opposite. Lebron is a good defender who isnt trying anymore and Luka/AR are bad defenders that do try to. Im not tripping hes 40 but lets not just make up shit thats hes putting more effort when theres highlights every night on our sub of him walking back on defense and not giving a fuck
Reaves is Bad defensively but he unquestionably puts in effort. Lebron has been sleeping off ball constantly.
It’s a joke wizze guy.
Okay, but why is he dressed like Shaggy?
Funny thing is lebron might have the worst swing ever even Charles has a better one he shouldn’t probably waste time on that also steph could try to become a pro he has the talent for it.
LeBron is still good but should probably play 20 ppg off the bench at this point. His on/off is awful because he plays no defense.
I like that some people were like “Oh Bron gonna be mad” like bro, he’s 40, he doesn’t give a fuck
Never, never did you hear a response like that when Jordan was playing.
In his off season? Sure.
When he was actually on the links? Sure.
But never in the season and when his coach was wanting more out of their players.
This detachment from the competition by LeBron is what separates them. Period.
There’s always this weird hate Lakers fans have for their star when he’s past his prime and its clear he isn’t helping the team win big anymore.
Lebron rescued the Lakers from hell and delivered a championship and relevancy but now that they have to put up with 1 season of post-prime Lebron fans act like he is the reason this crappy Lakers roster isn’t contending with Luka right now.
That’s the problem!!