LeBron James after today’s loss: “You want me to compare us to them? That’s a championship team right there we’re not. We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes and they can. That’s why they won a championship.”
LeTired
Fire ze missiles! Then take a nap
Meanwhile, Australia is down there like, WTF mates?
Now that’s an old reference.
Tell me about it. It’s really been 23 years since 2003…
I saw one referring to The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny the other day and felt my hair turning gray
Lethargic
LeThargic
Clever
LeXplain
LeTired soon to be ReTired
LeTired of the lakers
LeFatigue
I have LeRectile Dysfunction
LeRoSparks
Sometimes he just gives the real answer and everyone acts like its news
Prepare for a million think pieces about it on ESPN today
i think it’s been known for over a decade now that anything LeBron says is news. Dude can say the sky is blue and millions of people want to know about it. Just how it goes.
The Lakers are now 32-19. On this day last year, the Lakers were also 32-19.
I’m not saying AD is better than Luka, but AD was a huge part of last year’s team simply because of his insane defense. Last year’s team only got there because of AD’s insane output on both ends. This year, we’re obviously better offensively but that doesn’t win you games against good teams.
Defense wins championships
I can’t tell if you’re sarcastic, joking about nico or a Dallas fan that just hates his team. But I feel for ya bro
I like that you presented no positive options 😂
I’d be sick if I was a Mavs fan godDAYUM
We are
I have never heard of this one. Someone tell Dallas
AD was great last season for the lakers but they were 26-19 when he got injured at the end of January and subsequently traded. The Lakers then went on a 6 game win streak lead by Lebron (which got him the player of the month in February) including games against the Knicks at MSG, Clippers, Golden State. Not to mention they were 3-1 in games AD largely missed prior to his injury including the christmas game against golden state.
I think it reads pretty strongly that this is a team built around AD as the best player (which is not a bad thing, that was the situation) and that’s just so radically different from what you need to succeed with Luka. I know that they had limited assets to give up and that changes in the offseason but I really don’t love seeing a team punt a star’s season, even a star I dislike as much as Luka.
I’m very curious what the Lakers do this offseason. There’s limited game changing players available in free agency, but cap space can be used in trades too and I think they’d have a third pick available to trade. Plus Reaves is driving up his value as a trade piece.
They should ask Adam Silver for another free Superstar
There’s no way a spurs fan is talking about being gifted players
We were actually bottom 4 record the year we got Wemby, and Harper was a little luck but we had two lottery picks that year. Castle we were also a bottom feeder record.
Laker fans truly live in a delusional world.
Look up the top 10 unlikely draft jumps in NBA history and point out a Spurs pick for me.
Then please look up the top 10 WORST trades in NBA history and point out all the ones the Lakers benefited from.
Thank you.
I really don’t care. Wemby & Harper are all I really need to point to. Thank you.
There is no way a Spurs fan is complaining this much about being gifted players. Some teams like the Pistons have never moved up in the lottery ever. And then there’s you guys.
People really convinced themselves that it was an inside job and not that Nico was an idiot lmao
Were not convinced brother.
Thats a fact
https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.3903421363.9005/raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.jpg
AR was out for a month. They could easily be at least 37-14 just from that alone, which would put them in the top tier of the west.
Every top team in the west has had significant injuries too, the what if doesn’t really hold weight
Fair enough, but it’s a lot easier to deal with injuries when your roster is well built and has depth. Which you can’t say about the Lakers now or even in the last few seasons since the chip.
It’s not for fun that we have had over 24 (I think) starting lineups this season.
They really expect LeBron and Luka to both magically get healthier come playoff time, and they will be shocked and demand heads when the Lakers get knocked out in the first round.
Again
Fans of other teams are more delusional about the Lakers than Lakers fans are.
We all know this team isn’t built for the playoffs. We’re all already looking to next year. Nobody on the Lakers subreddit other than the few cope-fiends will be shocked when we lose in the first round.
Lakers should’ve traded LeBron at the deadline to focus on Luka’s future
And miss out on that retirement tour money? Not happening.
LeBron is leaving this summer anyways.
Fr bro. I’m convinced Denver with Gordon and OKC with a healthy Dub are at least 5 wins better each. This year has been absolute hell for injuries for everyone, of the top contenders I’d say Spurs have had the best time since Wemby wasn’t out for much.
Wemby and Fox both missed time. Wemby like 20 games lol. Same for Vassell actually. Castle and Harper to a lesser extent but these being their top guys is a big factor.
Yeah nah. The nuggets were missing Jokic, a 3 time mvp for a month. The Thunder aren’t even playing with their best player. They have also been unhealthy this year.
Which is funny considering people were way higher on the Lakers last year. Some thought they could make a run. Now even with the same record everyone knows they have no shot. A 2nd rnd exit at best.
Worth noting that LeBron missed 16 games, Luka missed 9 games and AR missed 24 games.
LeAving soon
LeBye
LeCiao
LeAdios
LeFt
LeRealist
I love the salty about lack of moves undertone he has
OKc were blowing by AR. Jake not hitting shit. DA as usual no effort on rebounding.
The most maddening thing about Ayton is that he grabs a rebound (off or def) and then just lazily brings the ball down to his knees and gets stripped.
That shit happens like 3 times every game.
Maybe it isn’t about laziness but more about fundamentals. Reminds me of Pau in similar situations, he knew how to maximise his height.
Been there lol 😂 Chet’s handle is far too loose as well lol 😂
There is loose handle because you’re tall af trying to dribble penetrate, then there’s Ayton couldnt hold on to the ball because he lowers it for some reason in traffic or cant even grab rebounds slightly farther from his immediate reach.
I teach third graders not to do that. It’s honestly baffling that a professional has such poor fundamentals when it comes to one of the most basic big man things imaginable.
There’s piranhas down there Ayton!
Bro got his big contract and mentally clocked out. Just like Simmons and kuzma imo. Some dudes clearly never had big passion for the game and it shows everytime once they get big money
He was SO good with PHX one series against us too. That shit made me a believer, dude was an absolute force on both ends of the floor and looked like he had potential to be a truly great big man.
And just like that it was just gone forever. It’s a bummer because all of the physical shit exists there for him. Passion is just non existent. Dude should be sleep walking to 20⁄10 but he can’t muster up the give a fuck to do that.
His effort is crazy to me. How does he not feel guilty just standing there not fighting for anything offense and defense. Doesnt even try to exaggerate an effort being made. He just doesn’t care lol
Most people when they retire, they miss their playing days a lot. People like Ayton and Simmons couldn’t be assed to miss the sport I’d bet lol
My favorite part of the game was somewhere I think in the 4th, DA actually went at the basket for a rebound or score and fell down. And the announcer said the OKC is on the powerplay. OKC pulled the ball back out to setup something and DA came trotting back down and the announcer basically was like “oh look who showed up”.
LeFrank
LeBlunt
I mean, he’s not wrong
It’s insane to me that the player showing the most effort and energy on the court is a 41 year old billionaire that has nothing else to prove.
But that’s not what happened. LeBron takes plenty of plays off. And in this game I felt it was way less about effort and way more about execution. Lakers played hard but not smart
No they actually played Smart a lot tonight since Luka was out
lol
These LeBron fans live in a fantasy world where LeBron is the current model of sustained on-court, two-way effort for the league lol
It’s insane you don’t watch the game closely
He shows zero effort on defense and often doesn’t even make it back past the half way line on a possession change often
Stop embarrassing yourself
Lebron actually brought intensity and effort on the defensive end last night. But I get it, you low-life casual clowns just like to hate when you have the chance.
Did you even watch the game? He put out play off effort last night. You’re embarrassing yourself
People who actually don’t watch games are upvoting these comments because they’re fake acting like they’re locked in without saying anything. Who played better than Lebron on the lakers last night?? You didnt watch the damn game. The only reason people believe you did is because they don’t watch the games either and are just feeding their bias.
The comment is about effort tho
Of the lakers healthy starting 5 who is the best defender? (Hint: it’s the 41 year old)
Eagerly awaiting r/NBA’s best basketball analyst’s take on this one. I’m sure he won’t embarrass himself.
Zero effort on defense? Go watch the game again. He played good and hard defense. It was one of the better defensive games for the lakers.
The only two times he didnt run back were in the third quarter. He was exhausted by playing bully ball against dort on offense. And he played 2-3 minutes more than usal before his rest cause lakers were coming back.
He is 41 and his stamina will be a problem at times. The much bigger problem are AR and Luka crying about calls and not running back.
Why lie?
Cause the haters that don’t watch ball, just like OP, will upvote it anyhow because they like the narrative.
That’s not true tho. LeBron is not putting the most effort in the starting lineup let alone the whole team. And that’s to be expected
player showing the most effort and energy on the court
there’s no way that’s true lmao; he takes plenty of plays off
Tbf its not that insane since this is why he’s a 41 year old billionaire despite coming from nothing.
Lol he might seem nice and more approachable than how the media portrays other competitors like MJ or Kobe but LeBron wouldn’t be LeBron if he didn’t blackout and go crazy trying to compete from playing in games to preparing to play for his entire life up to this point. There’s probably nobody out there that cares more than him
pretty sure his genetics have more to do about him being able to do what he does at 41 more then anything else. this dude is 1 of 1 greek god
Of course they have a lot to do with anyone making it to the NBA in the first place. They do not do anything for him when it comes to learning the game, showing up to stay in shape, always doing the right thing and simply having the drive to still be there at 41. You don’t become LeBron by just winning a genetic lottery and its honestly insanely disrespectful to assume that lol he had to have dedication and put in the work the whole time to meet his potential the way he has. There have probably been people with the same physical potential or similar that didn’t even make the league or didn’t even play a pro sport because they didn’t have it in them to push themselves
LeQuiteFrankly
LeThargy
OKC gonna win it all again, aren’t they?
I’d be quite surprised if they didn’t
They better not
Championship team that gets more experience plus adds Jared McCain for nothing is going to be pretty hard to beat.
Too many good players and teams to be sure of anything, but last year was the worst the Thunder core will be. That year they were untested, and young. They still have the young tag for their next contracts, but now they have the confidence. Though the East is the best it has been recently and will get Pacers next year. Plus West, whoever wins this year will have really earned it.
They’re the best in the west but a healthy Cavs or Celtics team that’s beaten weaker teams in the east in fewer games could easily upset them
Wemby and buzz buzz would like to know your location
the spurs have no chance in the playoffs
Possibly, Denver will invariably be a hellfight again this year assuming both teams full health.
Only thing is there is no East team as good as late season / Playoff Pacers on the other side.
I’m pretty confident it will end up DEN-OKC WCF if its opposite of the bracket. Minnesota is worse without NAW and SAS shooting is all kind of horrible + first time in Playoffs.
There was no “playoffs Pacers” last year, until the playoffs, so that’s kinda hard to judge right now. Anyone can get hot and go on a good streak.
Yes the Pacers were good for the totality of 2025, they had been winning at 60+ pace for the majority of the season.
They just got better through the Playoffs.
There is no team like that in the East this year, barring a potentially miraculous Boston emergence if Tatum somehow comes back and is a winning player post Achilles.
The most threatening team to OKC is Denver if they can get AG and Watson back at full health.
Both OKC and DEN have been wildly hurt this year. Their records aren’t reflective of who they will be in the Playoffs.
At what point were the pacers on a 60+ pace? They had some injuries to role players, but it’s not like they were decimated at any point in the season compared to the rest of the league. What are you referencing? Do you mean 50+?
They’re a good 50 win team, not 60, this is rewriting history to make yourself look better being taken to 7 games. They went 20-9 after the All-Star break, 6th best in the league. That’s not 60 win pace.
They were a 60+ pace team when they were healthy iirc.
Snapshotting how many games? It’s caveats upon caveats.
I mean you asked I just answered.
I dont remember exactly when it was said, probably in the Mind the Game episode featuring Hali.
Yea, I just don’t think it’s valid. If we did the same thing for every team we’d have quite a lot of 60+ win teams, when everyone is healthy and clicking on all cylinders. That’s just not how it works in reality.
I’m pretty sure it was either the back half of the season or post January last year.
Just looked it up, they were 34-14 in 2025, which is a 58 win pace. 4th best in the nba over that span.
Flair up, casual. Nobody’s trying to “rewrite history” here.
I am flaired, I’m European. I get what I can on the weekends, whenever the NBA schedules midday games so I can’t be picky on what to watch, the curse of American time-zones. Not being able to watch my team, or see them in person feels bandwagony to me, since I’m a match going fan at home. Nice deflection though.
Flair up, casual.
Nobody cares about that shit in this sub boy.
LeHonestOpinion
Lebron barely tries on defense anymore to conserve energy. He’s part of the problem.
What’s Luka’s excuse?
None of you guys watch these games man. That was clearly not the reason they lost. He did bring more intensity and effort on defense then normal although still needed to take some plays off due to playing bully ball and quite frank his cardio just isn’t that great anymore. But if you watched that game and went “man Lebron needs to lock in on defense” as you main take away I think that’s silly
But if you watched that game
I think we found the problem.
He’s 41 years old which apparently is a less well known fact than you’d expect.
i’m a huge lebron guy, but you can’t use age as an excuse to not defend when you’re taking $52m from the cap
I mean if you’re signing a 40+ guy to a max, you shouldve known he wouldnt be full on effort on both ends as much as he could. They know what they’re getting.
the gas tank decreases as you age. lebron could go all out but hes not going to be available for the rest of the week game. or if he could increase pace but wont be available for playoff.
the dude spends a mil trying to extend that gas tank and replenish it as much as a possible. complaining lebron doesnt try is crazy.
michaelscottthankyou.gif
hella facts king, he knows we’re repeating
He’s right. Y’all would rather him lie?
Only thing I’ll miss about LeBron is the “Le” name jokes that reddit does with his name. Some of these are hilarious.
It’s up there with Mr. Big Chest jokes. Shit will never get old
LeHardenMitchellJamesMobleyAllen
“Ayton”
LeTReplacementNeeded
LeUnsustainable
No lies told.
LeGone
LeDone
LeSelf-reflection in LeMirror.
This is kinda weak leadership for a team that’ll be in the playoffs. Wouldn’t want the face of the team saying hey we just aren’t a championship team in early February
I like butt hurt bron
Says the guy walking around the court
2020 championship doesn’t count.
This is a classic pre-deadline LeBron answer.
I’m not sure what to think of it post deadline
[deleted]
They have a ring for that lmfao, their team is proven.
idk your flair never gets faded so I auto. assume you guys are the champs every season
That was really clever, tell me another one that is definitely relevant to what we were talking about
heyyy Ive always said on the clippers subreddit that Seattle should come back to the league
I think they should come back too, but there isn’t much you can do about it. I just like basketball for the most part, so I kept watching both college and NBA basketball.
LeMatter-of-fact
Lenosustain
I don’t understand how he can be one of the greatest basketball minds of all time, but also be incredibly delusional about the past four years as a lakers team. It’s been fun to watch him as always. But he’s genuinely wasted his time and has no chance at any more rings.
I don’t think he has been delusional, though. His real-time assessments of his team are historically spot on (despite any player’s natural inclination to want to stay positive) and recognize the talent and effort gap between them and the top tier teams. And he never really makes “I’m good in the West” type grandiose statements that would indicate he’s overestimating his team. I’m guessing you’re referring to the fact that his goal of earning another ring doesn’t align with the fact he’s stayed in LA. And to that I say, I think he’s just happier being in LA where he lives and operates outside of basketball than he thinks he would be elsewhere ring-chasing at this point in his career. He wants the best from whomever the front office can surround him with, and he’s giving his best effort for a guy his age, but if the result doesn’t equal a championship, I think at 41 he’s ok with that. Next year will throw in new variables that might change that - LA ownership/management’s priorities, the issues surrounding his salary, the likelihood of it really being his final season, etc. - but only time will tell.
No excuses. its February, you had 50 games to figure out how to be championship team. OKC made 4 more 3s, that’s the game right there. Lebron and AR were 1 for 9 on 3s.
can’t believe they missed on purpose
LeItchychin
he gone
LePointing fingers and bringing down his teammates to boost himself for the 934th time
Well LeBron the team leader has to set the example for all other teammates to want to follow. So…………….
That moment in the third when lebron took over for a bit reminded all thunder fans of 2012. Dude looked like a giant next to every thunder player and was bullying them all. Lucky for us he can only do that for a few minutes these days.
If only one could trade for a better whistle
Cancuns that way old man
LeComingBackToCleveland?
Ehhhhh? Ehhhhhhhhh?
Sounds like a leadership issue 🤷♂️
Well, it’s Luka’s team now so if it’s a leadership issue, that’s on him
I’m…. Little surprised by this? Watching the game, I felt like the energy was mostly there al night. They might be tired after trying to match OKC’s energy level, which might have led to some slipping of focus and mistakes down the stretch.
Definitely some blown calls leading to a lot of frustration. The refs were ass for not calling obvious fouls or the out of bounds along the baseline that led to an OKC layup.
Carushow was hot tonight. Thought it was a good game. Having SGA back in the lineup will make things so much worse for the Lakers’ post-season aspirations.
I think I was most annoyed by some boneheaded plays and bad passes from Smart and I absolutely-fucking-lutely loath watching Ayton on the floor. How can such a big dude be so goddamn weak with the ball in his hands after a rebound. He doesn’t protect the rock and force the issue. He gets stripped by little dudes down low after a rebound constantly.
As a Lakers fan, he’s 100% right. This team does have potential when everyone is on their game, but they have too many inconsistencies. Ayton has a ton of talent, but constantly brings the ball low and gets stripped. He also plays way too soft at times and lazily jogs down the court for minutes at a time. LaRavia is a huge liability if his threes aren’t falling because he constantly gets blown by on defense.
Kobe would be proud lol.
You right, Kobe would just call his teammates bums, demand a trade, then prob go assault a woman.
Exactly
some of you were just born retrded ngl.
And still not dumb enough to be a Kob stan lol
As if Kobe wouldn’t call out the team when they were bad
LeBron knows the testing schedules very well
Timing the usage of them is sometimes more important than winning regular season games
So he knows very well when to stop using them
Reaves should’ve flopped more
Believe me, he tried non stop. Smart flopped on nearly every drive to the basket lol.
Leflop sucks.
LeCope
Lebron’s lucky he has that no trade clause otherwise he’d have been traded like AD did after asking for a center.
Would have been better for both teams if he went to the Cavs this year.
How TF would that have been good for the Cavs?
bc he wouldnt be on a 50 mil contract
But he’d still want to be a starter, he’d still want to pad his stats out, he’d still want his son to have a job. There’s a chance just him being there would raise revenue for the city like it did before but it’s much lower now. People out this way don’t love him like before he left, people in general are pretty tired of him. Like we’re trying to throw him farewell parties when he comes through not put him on a roster.
How’s he lucky when he leveraged his no-trade clause?
SGA no help allegations are officially in the mud, He has the best help in the entire NBA!
but they got taken to 7 games last year
And won the chip?????? Literally like LeBron said, don’t start backtracking now
But but they got taken to two 7 game series. They’re not a Superteam.. don’t switch up now
Super teams win championships unfortunately, I don’t make the rules
So if the pacers won you’d be calling them a super team?
No because pacers fans don’t complain and cry that Tyrese doesn’t have help, only you guys do
“Super teams win championships”
Based on this statement would a hypothetical Pacers 2025 title make them a superteam?
Also let’s not lie, Tyrese TO THIS DAY was “carrying” the pacers according to the fine folks on THIS sub
Tyrese was also averaging like 14 points compared to the rest of his team even still they didn’t sound as ignorant and desperate as yall
Whats ignorant and desperate about the statement that shai generates a solid 80% of OKCs offense on a nightly basis?
Yk what ACTUALLY reeks of ignorance and desperation? Jumping right back onto the superteam narrative the millisecond OKC wins a game without Shai, ignoring the b2b losses where Shai would’ve easily been the difference between winning and losing.
Citing outlier games as a basis for your argument is so silly, you are a deeply unserious individual.