The Lakers are now 10-2 when Luka and Reaves play without LeBron
Source.
Also have performed much better against top teams which has been an issue fully healthy
Sample getting too big for it to be a coincidence
It’s not a narrative. They’re genuinely better
It’s not a knock on LeBron really, he’s 41. However he still taking up max money
It’s not, people just don’t wanna deal with his rabid fanbase.
Nuggets record with and without Jokic is about the same but nobody is braindead enough to make that argument lol
Edit:
Spurs are 10-4 without Wemby
Nuggets are 10-7 without Jokic
Thunder are 8-6 without Shai
About the same…10-2 is not 10-7 what in the fuck
2 and 7 can look similar though
Lakers have +2.2 better net rating WITHOUT Lebron this season
Spurs have -16 worse net rating without Wemby this season
OKC have -9.1 worse net rating without SGA this season
Nuggets have -10.7 worse net rating without Jokic this season
nice try though
Just for context.. LeBron and the bench unit are one of the better, more consistent lineups on the Lakers and have been all year
But that doesn’t get clicks
For additional context… LeBron’s on/off numbers since Christmas have also been pretty drastic. Over a 31 game sample size they are a +3.1 net rating with him on… and a -1.3 with him off
A difference of +4.4
But again… that doesn’t actually get clicks
Nice try though
-16 is crazy.
Small sample size tbf. I think we need LeBron to re-sign and play another year on the Lakers to see if this really holds up.
Because Jokic’ on off numbers indicate they’re better with than without him unlike Lebrons
Jokic slots into the nuggets roster because the team is supposed to be made around him
This team is not meant for LeBron’s current skill set. LeBron is still a great player, but it’s undeniable that there’s too many ball dominant players between him, Luka, and Reaves
It’s a mix of weak teams and good teams shooting poorly + more effort defensively. Look at the games and opponents
For the 10-2:
Losses against GSW and OKC. Wins against MIN x 2, MEM, MIA, CHA, NOP x 2, MIL, IND, NYK. Wolves wins and the Knicks win were against good teams, the rest are average opponents
After the initial stretch and the last 3 games, Lebron mostly sits against weaker opponents. In the 3 wins against good opponents (MIN x2 and NYK), the opponents shot terribly. Part of that is just variance, they played with more effort but didn’t magically become a lock down team from 3.
The stats back it, and using your eyes back it. You have used neither
Lazy to look, any big wins out of those 10? Cause they beat bad teams with lebron too
This isn’t a big sample size at all.
It’s not just these games, it’s the rest of the season in games they all played, lineups with Luka and Reaves without Bron have been awesome.
Reaves missed a huge chunk of this year and is still a question mark come playoff time.
This regular season stretch means nothing. Not sure how long you’ve been watching basketball, but this will be forgotten about and never brought again by the end of the month.
The game slows down in the playoffs, gets more physical, and Lebron should be significantly better. He’s been doing this so long, albeit he has declined, it’s silly to even have the conversation.
Thats why the hot take era is meaningless banter most of the time. See you in the playoffs.
Denver got a winning record without Jokic too, don’t overthink it
Too many people who want the ball in their hands.
The reality is we have three guys who need the ball in their hands to be most effective. Luka isn’t going to be the one who is going to be asked to sacrifice so it comes down to LeBron and AR and honestly AR’s ceiling is much higher than a 40 year old LeBron but JJ isn’t ready for those tough conversations lol
You think JJ doesn’t know that? lol
Ehh I think in a playoff series AR is still below Lebron. AR has struggled with his shot since coming back from injury
But he’s a pretty obvious playoff faller. AR had a good 2023 run to the WCF and has struggled pretty badly in every other playoff scenario
Yeah, he’s great but he also clearly struggles with physical defences, at least that’s what I’ve noticed.
Tell me you don’t watch his games without telling me so. Been injured for a bunch, but pre injury, he has showed up against these physical defences. Showed up tonight as well.
With just Reaves playing, he with the team won against the Spurs. Has Wemby been fouled out any other time this season? Lakers have won thrice against the Wolves, are they physical enough? He scored 25 (with Luka, no Bron), 28 (no Luka or Bron, I think Marcus was on the bench and a buzzer beater, facilitated whole time and enabled LaRavia too), and 31 this game.
He was double/triple teamed in the middle game there, guarded by McDaniels who is one of the best defenders at his position, yet Reaves came through.
From next time, just start with “I am an AE hater. Well, this is my opinion…”
Some of what you said makes sense but in general, reaves doesn’t do well with physical defenses. He’s a solid player but has his weaknesses
Brother, I want to respect your eye test. But I am not sure if you’ve had enough. Tell me a better paint penetrator, who makes these tough layups with the agility that he does, and gets the fouls too.
I think he gets more exposed if/when he has to bring the ball up. Once he’s inside the arc, not many defences can break him. But it’s his role in the team (which will evolve) that mainly decides if he’ll be affected really bad by these physical defense schemes.
Austin wasn’t bad at all in 2024, what?
i was about to ask whether lebron or AR has been the better second option this year. yeah, 3 guys without need the ball is too many, but which other guy should actually join luka? doesn’t seem like the answer is obviously reaves
So…you think a person who had great performances in his first playoffs run when he didn’t even have a fixed role, is a playoffs faller? What rubbish is this? He was injured with a toe issue, and still played through it. This kind of thing keeps players away for weeks, and he played without complains.
As for 2024, the whole team shat the bed.
JJ knows. He also knows bron is the reason he’s in that position to make those types of decisions.
Also these numbers I’m questioning. Lemme see a 10 game stretch starting now LeBron on the bench then tell me the laker record. Not a full season when he’s been out.
Lebron in his Lakers Westbrook phase
He’s shooting 3s worse than Westbrick this year
LeBrick
LeFt of the rim
It’s closer to end of Knicks Melo, counting stats are still good. Plus he can still get to his spots selectively, but the defensive falloff + contract size render him a negative.
If they could S & T trade him and use cap for 2-3 proper 2 way players they’ll be a far better team.
We really gotta stop comparing Lebron to his prime self when analyzing his current output lol. Compare him to KAT rn who is making more money, with less points and assists and about the same level of defense. No one is calling him a net negative because the knicks are a very well balanced roster despite their faults.
Lebron’s defensive falloff seems worse due to how high it fell from. That doesn’t make him a bad defender or a net negative rn, this roster is just ass and exposes his weakness, which is an issue since they are also Luka’s. If Pelinka ever bothered to commit to building a proper roster in the year before Luka arrived, all 3 of them would be looking a lot better and have more to work with than just a bunch of other team’s waived players
Dude he’s horrendous on defense. He doesn’t even try most of the time. Like he doesn’t even move. And what makes it worse is he always drops his shoulders or points at some one else like it’s their fault .
If we compare him to other 50M players then he’s almost at the bottom with Kat and PG.
I would never add KAT to this Lakers team because like your 2 guys are not known for their defense, but current KAT imo is for sure better and more impactful than current Lebron. I mean forget everything, the guy is actually an elite rebounder, Lakers need size inside the paint, he would be a really good 4 in that team. He is also efficient and I think can defend better than Lebron right now. His 3 point ball would be great for them, more size, better shooting, better rebounding, no need to get the ball could just shoot, imo better defense, that’s just a better Lakers team. What would be amazing though is someone like OG
Kat is well better than lebron right now.
Eh I mean the trio has been fine when the lineups around them have made sense:
LeBron/Luka/Reaves/Rui: -9.3 (139 min)
LeBron/Luka/Reaves no Rui: +11.5 (155 min)
And the Luka/Reaves/Rui no LeBron lineups have been good too so I really think it’s just the fit of those four all the same time that’s been rough (although they worked pretty well together last year in small ball units with DFS so maybe their could still be something there this year if it’s with Vando or Smart as the fifth guy).
“when the lineups around them have made sense” - this. This has been the problem since before Luka even got there. It has been on Pelinka for punting on 3 straight opportunities to make this a contender and hoping buyout players have career years
Man I’m glad someone else is paying attention, there’s so much focus on the Lakers top guys when the rest of their roster is straight trash relative to any of the teams they get compared with. Think about the Lakers 4-7 guys on the roster, then think about the Thunder/Celtics/Nuggets, their back end of bench guys would be competing for those 4-7 spots on the Lakers easy.
Do the Lakers have any two way players on the roster now that LeBron is old? They got their first shooter in years in a trade deal a few weeks ago despite shooting being a need since fucking Westbrook. It’s just poor roster construction and some of these guys on other teams that are getting signed to 10 days are out performing guys they gave contracts to. Bad scouting and roster management, I think Pelinka has done an awful job.
I think last year they worked ok because Rui/Bron played more minutes at the 5. They are both better as small ball centers than SFs
The problem is the lack of defense when he’s out there
That isn’t even the big issue, it’s that his 3 ball is atrocious this year, and having rui on the bench for him makes that starting lineup much worse because of it. You can see when it’s just Austin and Luka that there’s so much more spacing with rui and Luke.
I love LeBron but it’s just a terrible basketball fit right now.
The three headed monster could work if they had a floor spacing 5. Someone like Brook Lopez.
These takes show who actually watches Laker games. LeBron turns into a corner shooter when he’s on the floor with both of them not demanding the ball
Yeah he aint coming back next year
yep bye bye Deandre Ayton
He has a player option which he probably takes though, no? Presumably he takes it, as I doubt he’s getting much in free agency.
Ayton only cares about money. I wouldn’t be surprised if his delusional ahh and/or his agent get convinced that he is worth more than the player option specially since he had a solid start first 20 games or so
I think it makes sense for him to test FA. Worst case scenario for Ayton, he declines the player option but no one offers him more money. Then I’m almost certain another team will be willing to offer the same deal and he just does it all over again.
Being a center and playing worse with Luka and your PG is a horrible look, he’s picking up that option
“I’m coming home”
Winning without him is probably the worst possible “problem” for LeBron.
Funny how his entire career his teams absolutely crumble when he is out or on the bench, then when he finally has a better star and the team doesn’t lose without him (14-7 this season), it is also “a problem.”
They’re 11-6 this season with the big 3, these narratives pretend they’re 6-11
That also really puts into perspective how few games they’ve played together. I still think they can figure it out, the injuries to all 3 have just been unfortunate this season
I think the narrative is a bit unfair right now, but if you watched them play, they looked much better in the games without him and maybe some of that is coincidence. But they also got completely dominated in most of the big games with those 3, never won against good teams, but without him they have a couple? I don’t know, its something they need to look at. I don2t accept that Lebron James can not figure out how to be a non-negative asset
What abt bronny?
His 10-day contract should be done by now right?
He coming back for minimum. Lmao
There no way he’s not going to come back to LA.
Clinging to Luka’s coattails is only hope at ring #5.
If he goes to Cleveland he gets another chip.
Maybe.
Lowkey Bron should take that Iggy role and come off the bench
+8 net rating when he’s on without either of them. Negative when on with only one of them. Barely breaking even when all 3 are on together. Luka and AR together without him are like +15. He definitely should be coming off the bench looking at the numbers.
they’re +6 since january 1st in more mins together than start of season to jan 1st
lol you’re not gonna convince people because they see numbers and don’t even have context around them or understand what they’re looking at
JJ does try to stagger him and Luka as much as possible
LeBron has to much a of ego to do that lmao
Iggy was a top 5 wing defender in the league during his peak 6 man days with the warriors
He can’t defend like Iggy in 2016 tho….. he should go back to cavs and be their 6th man next year
Hate to say it but the Lakers play with so much effort without him.
you needed to add “Hate to say it” to avoid the downvotes
LeBron is still one of the fastest players on the team in a straight line but his age and lower body injuries have robbed him of his lateral quickness I genuinely think Ayton is a more fluid mover side to side right now. The Lakers react quicker on defense without him even if he diagnoses the plays faster.
[deleted]
You can get away with one guy cheating. It’s hard when you have 2 and at least one of them is always on the floor.
How did you get the custom flair?
Well, yeah, Austin and Luka are actually close friends and enjoy playing together
With LeBron, they feel the need to play like they enjoy playing together
Disrespectful to not cherish every minute you play in the goats presence tbh
So you have an idea if AR or Luka do not enjoy playing with LeBron?
Lakers were missing Hayes and Kleber tonight too, which is a pretty big deal they’re the only bigs on the roster besides Ayton.
There’s definitely a team-wide commitment defensively without LeBron in the lineup though
I am a LeBron fan but he does not try on defense and that can be contagious especially if it’s a leader on the team.
He’s so slow laterally. He does one rotation and that’s it
Not only that but if one person isn’t doing their part on defence the whole defensive scheme fails because the other players have to scramble to defend his man.
I think one person is fine cuz they can be hidden but 3 cones in a 5-man lineup might be pushing it slightly
I don’t understand why Lebron can’t just be a defensive menace all game and that’s it. Just use him like Jake Laravia on offense and on defense, he gets to use all his energy and be a great defender. I think he definitely has the mind and body to be that good defensively but the thing holding him back imo has been using energy on offense. You got 2 of the best ball handling scorers in the game right now, just chill on offense.
He’s conscious about his stats. Those things that don’t show in the boxscore, he can’t be bothered doing that.
Probably doesn’t want the end of his career to fall off statistically like UD. It’s cool being in the league forever but for him it needs to be competitive. UD was happy to ride the bench and knew that front office exec job was his whenever he wanted it. He liked playing a bit then sitting his old ass down. A hoopers dream.
Who’s ud
Udonis Haslem
Which means… they’re better without him?
This isn’t even a knock on Lebron. But Luka is far and away the best player on the floor and everybody fits around him well except when Lebron and Reaves are both trying to be #2s
Its a little disingenuous
The lakers have been a lot better since ASB with all 3 on the court and all 3 of them dealing with injuries/rust the first time they were all available hurt their rating/record
The Lakers just turned up their defensive intensity, and have better spacing with Kennard, that’s why they are better, not because Bron is injured
The team is massively better without LeBron if you could use his cap space elsewhere
maybe i’m wrong, but they wouldn’t have had any cap space anyways if lebron wasn’t there tho
You’re not getting LeBron’s offense, defense, and playmaking with that salary because AR will be eating up most of that salary already.
In reality you have maybe $20mil max and that’s not enough for a solid starter.
People on this sub don’t even know what the salary cap or FA’s look like. You aren’t getting the same value if you’re breaking up his contract next year
Go look at the available FA’s. LeBron and AR are the best ones lol
Depth pieces around Luka/Austin is better than LeBron currently
Exactly if Brons a net negative or let’s be generous and say he’s a net neutral, that’s not helping the team
You can do a lot more with 55mil in salary than a net neutral player
And this whole rotation requires Lebron to drop his minutes to more of the 26-28 range. I dont get why they feel pressured to play him so much especially when lower minutes allows him to actually lock in defensively.
Rui was +3 in 24 minutes tonight though
They already stagger that way lol, do you even watch games?
Rui doesn’t fit well with those guys either. But I generally disagree with this. The Big 3 net rating has improved pretty well over the past few weeks since they’ve all been healthy
Their wins early season also included some weak or injured opponents
You play who’s in front of you. That’s how the AR Luka duo were getting off to such a good start was their competition wasn’t all that great. But you play who you play
LeHolding Them Back
LeAlbatross
lebron/luka/reaves season start to January 1st - they were -10 in 140 minutes
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?DateFrom=09/03/2025&DateTo=01/01/2026&GroupQuantity=3&TeamID=1610612747&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=MIN
January 1st to now, +6 in 176 minutes
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?DateFrom=01/01/2026&DateTo=03/10/2026&GroupQuantity=3&TeamID=1610612747&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=GP
they’ve just played like no real minutes together, and early season, lebron no training camp, reaves injured, luka hurt
How much durability do you expect from a 41 year old though? Injuries are at an all time high and Lebron’s the oldest guy in the league.
AR has been hurt just as much as Bron
he played 70 and 71 games the past two seasons, and even this year he’s played more than AR and only a little less than Luka
Idk if 1881 mins for Luka vs 1456 mins for Lebron is “A little less” that’s almost 10 full games
Lakers are marginally better on offense with Lebron
Lakers are drastically better on defense and hustle without Lebron
Ideally he could average 17 and lock in on D and hustle but he’s 41 and no one expects that. Bad fit, especially with the rest of the roster
There is no reason why they can’t hustle the same without lebron. Lebron has lapses but it is clear the effort teamwide is better in the last 3 games
The 5th guy replacing LeBron is a hustler. Don’t think anyone is doing anything too different. Just having 3 defenders and hustler and 2 below average is better than the inverse of that
But maybe they could be doing better with lebron too, somewhere in the middle prob
Didn’t see Rui do that much different than Lebron would’ve tonight, but everyone else stepped it up.
If he can’t play the Manu role, he should just retire at this point. If he can be half as good as Manu in that role, the Lakers can do something there, but players that great just can’t accept that sort of a decline in importance.
The offense does seem to have more clarity without LeBron since it’s one less mouth to feed.
Defensively I just think everyone has stepped up last few games, especially Luka and Reaves.
I still believe LeBron can make a positive impact on the team, he’s just gotta find his niche. Last year he also shot the 3 ball well, this year he hasn’t. Redick also will need to experiment some more with how he staggers the three stars.
It’s been like 60 games, I am not sure if he can figure it out at this point. But I do agree with your mouth to feed comment, it feels like when they are all the court together, its “my turn your turn” ball. Luka takes 2 shots, then next possesion its Lebron’s turn to do some long 2 fadeaway or pass to Ayton. But they are all watching each other cook, so it becomes a thing where having Lebron out there is meaningless, because if he’s gonna watch anyway, you’d rather have Kennard and Rui watch and maybe wait for the 3 point shot, or Smart for the defense. I think what they need to do when all 3 are on court is to not give Lebron a big offensive role and focus on defense.
Nuggets record with and without Jokic is about the same as Lakers with and without LeBron but nobody is braindead enough to make that argument lol
I would bet my life that their best lineup in the playoffs will include LeBron. He is just coasting right now
Lakers are 14-7 without LeBron
Lakers are 10-2 with Luka and AR
Also:
Lakers have +2.2 better net rating without Lebron
Nuggets have -10.7 worse net rating without Jokic
Not really a comparison
Most of those wins (7 out of 10) are against bad opponents
LeBron started rough coming back from injury but since Jan 1 the trio has a positive and better net rating
Believe it or not, it’s actually a good thing for the Lakers to be able to win without Lebron.
For many years, it was a guaranteed loss when Lebron didn’t play.
Is this narrative that the Lakers are better without Lebron justified? I guess the question is: is Lebron’s replacement (Rui) better than Lebron?
I refuse to believe Rui is better than Lebron.
Rui shoots 3 and defend better than Bron with Luka and AR are on the floor. Bron shoots 3 terribly and plays terrible defense with the Luka and AR on the floor and takes aways the ball from them too.
I explain it this way, on offense, when Luka and AR are cooking, there is no benefit of Lebron being there, because he just stands there or gets open for 3, which he is not hitting this season. And if those 2 are gonna be elite and cook anyway, you’d rather have Rui stand still or run around more than Lebron for the 3, and hit it on elite efficiency. And on defense, I don’t know, maybe Lebron needs to spend more effort there, because Rui is not good either
Rui not better then lebron.
In those games 6-0 v teams under 0.500
4-2 v teams over 0.500 (was 3-2 before today).
It doesn’t matter, lakers need to play good WITH LeBron. They gotta figure it out
Yeah, there’s gonna be some nasty narratives around LeBron tomorrow. In reality, I think the Wolves just played like ass, and Luka and Austin have amazing dynamic duo chemistry. I won’t deny that the big 3 is an awkward fit, but they their net rating has been going up as of late. They barely had any time to practice with the 3 of them this season or in the offseason because Bron was injured. It is what it is, until they get a better off ball player to fill LeBrons spot, gotta work with it
Yep, intelligent take
After the initial stretch and the last 3 games, Lebron mostly sits against weaker opponents. In the 3 wins against good opponents (MIN x2 and NYK), the opponents shot terribly. Part of that is just variance, they played with more effort but didn’t magically become a lock down team from 3. Knicks also shot like ass the other night
People also forget, LeBron has been the best player for them down the stretch and in the clutch quite a few times this season. Plus he is their best transition player. I do think they will need him come playoff time, JJ just has to get better about getting Austin the ball and letting him be aggressive. He needs to get into rhythm, having him in the corner is wasting a lot of his offensive potential. You can see him get more momentum as he starts hitting more shots, he needs to be able to cook. If they can figure out a rotation that works for all 3, they can get cooking
Celtics are a top seed in the East without Tatum
Yeah, funny how that works huh?
Those don’t drive narratives I suppose so people don’t even realize lol
Lebron is not the Lakers equivalent of those players.
Uhh that’s the point
I don’t understand the complaints about clicks
LeBron’s fit with bench players is way less important than LeBron’s fit with other good players so of course people pay more attention to one as opposed to the other
LeBrons entire unit is the bench unit.. so yeah it’s highly important that he wins those min, which he has
The Big 3 min have all progressively gotten better, frankly because they haven’t played that many healthy min together
However important you think those minutes are, it is still dwarfed by the importance next to starters. DeAndre Ayton’s fit with the Luka and starters is also naturally subject to scrutiny in a way Ayton’s fit with bench units is not. It makes sense that more would care about the lineups and fit with players that are gonna be on the floor in the highest leverage minutes, not second quarter stints when there’s only 1 or two starters for each team on the floor.
I think the silver lining for the Lakers is that they’re probably going to be capable of weathering an injury to one of their best 3 players more than most teams, but I think there’s going to be a natural cap on lineups with players with heavy overlapping strengths and weaknesses, whatever way the numbers are trending game to game.
It should be noted that Nuggets had their easiest schedule during the month Jokic was out. Despite missing more than just Jokic. They still won most of their games.
OKC faced a lot of the best teams in the league when Shai went out.
OKC and Spurs are really good teams without Shai and Wemby. I even think healthy Nuggets without Jokic would be a good team too.
why glazing Tatum in this thread?
They just play a lot more free when three ball-dominant players aren’t overthinking their roles
They go from a mid team to a top contender without Bron
i dont think people in this thread understand that Luka, AR and Bron have hardly played together this season
They haven’t at all. They had a pretty bad net rating, and it essentially got all erased to a positive after 3 good games lol.. that’s how little they’ve played together this year
Goodbye to the league Bronny.
they almost look like a contender without Bron and a play-in team with Bron. damn
No LeBron, no Ayton. This team gonna be so much better next season.
You either retire a hero, or play long enough to be the new Westbrick…
Love LeBron but if the Lakers are going to be serious going forward, they either let him go or he takes a pay cut AND a backseat.
His stans were on twitter fighting for their lives trying to fight this narrative going to be fun seeing how they’re going to try and spin this tonight after another convincing blowout against a good team
LeBron Lames still has gas in his ass
Lebron needs to go
Shut up
Take the ver min Bron if you still want to be in La
I’ve been saying it, Lakers/Luka are not winning as long as Bron on the roster. Despite being a play-in or mid team. Enjoy watching Bron until he retires. Wait another year.
It’s crazy how 13 months ago, the narrative was “What trades could the Lakers make to extend LeBron’s window?”
Now Lebron has dropped off so badly that he’s wasting a year of Luka’s prime by being overpaid and impossible to trade.
Yeah he’s gotta go, he’s holding back the Luka Reaves era and shoulda been moved along with his son for some pieces
Maybe the Cavs woulda been dumb enough to trade Mobley lol
I know everyone thinks he’ll sign for the Cavs this summer, but I’m not sure the Cavs want him. They have a good team and I’m not sure where Lebron gets minutes.
True, especially if they go deep enough, like ECF or Finals
He’ll want to go there and they won’t need him
In the meantime he’s kinda kept the Lakers hostage as far as moves they can make
If they can find a deal for him somewhere he likes, kinda like the Clippers & Harden mutually parting ways, would work best for both sides
Well, he’s a free agent this summer. He can sign where he wants. But we all know he doesn’t want to do his retirement tour on the Hawks or Bulls or Kings.
There might be an outside chance we could sign and trade him. Like if the Cavs wanted to unload Jarret Allen and Lebron didn’t want to sign with them for the vets minimum (which is all they could offer), the Lakers could sign him for $33MM (which I think matches Allen’s salary?) and swap them.
The basketball reasons aren’t good for the Cavs. But a return could make the team a ton of money and at the end of the day it’s a business. The billion dollar retirement tour may be too much for ownership to pass up.
It all kind of makes some sense when you think about it. Bron missed all of training camp and preseason, and NBA teams barely practice during the regular season. On top of that, his net rating with neither Luka/AR on the court with him is quite good, and falls off a cliff when he’s on with one or both of them. Which also makes sense because he’s on with guys he played with prior to the Luka trade (Vando, Rui, Hayes, etc)
Not just Reddit talking about this now. James Worthy mentioned it after the game about how Reaves isn’t effective when he’s playing with both Luka and LeBron.
The LeBron stans trying to make excuses in this post are funny
LeBron is still by far the best 40 year old to ever play but he doesn’t fit on this team and his ego would never let him. That’s just one problem. The other is his passive aggressive nature that teams use to tolerate back when he was the best player in the world but now it’s just ruining the team chemistry. Having your bff go out there and talk shit about your two co stars is crazy.
LeBron knows he doesn’t fit in on this team and having more 3 & d players is better then 3 ball handlers that’s why he tried to get Austin traded through his bffs podcast 😂
His ego is too big (like most great players) that he really thought maybe he could get the Lakers to trade Austin for key role players and he and Luka could team up for a run but obviously Lakers don’t need to take orders from him anymore and are just waiting to either get rid of LeBron this summer or if there’s a miracle offer him a small contract and have him take a different role on the team but again LeBron will probably never come off the bench and also play off the ball.
Imagine a LeBron that comes off the bench and doesn’t get in the way of Luka and Austin? Imagine a LeBron that isn’t passive aggressive and tells his bff to stfu or he’s fired? Damn Lakers would be a lot better because again LeBron is still a really good nba player.
We knew this already
e why is everyone tryna be the star when teamwork is lit
And undefeated when someone in the league scores 83
Keep the same energy in the playoffs lol
I think LeBron’s lack of 3ball this season is why the trio hasn’t been working. Last season Bron was shooting 40% from 3, now he’s shooting terribly. That trio requires them all to be deadly from every part of the court.
I genuinely don’t understand how anyone could’ve watched the 2024 and 2025 playoffs and think a NET NEGATIVE at the 3⁄4 could ever work out.
It doesn’t take a genius. AR, Bron and Luka are 3 players who are much better on ball then off ball. Until the rule changes to allow more than one ball in play at a time, you don’t need all 3 in the game.
I’ve been thinking all season that the Lakers would have a better record if they had Andrew Wiggins instead of LeBron, even if Bron is clearly the better player in abstract.
Bron to the Warriors. One last ride for the boys. Bring back Klay too
In other words, he a bitch.
I’m not the biggest bron fan, I respect his longevity and his accomplishments but the hate is crazy. Lakers roster is horrible acting like they don’t need bron is crazy. Lakers wasted his prime years
We’re unbelievably better without him. I never thought I’d see the day. Wish JJ would bench him but he doesn’t get this job without him. We’ll probably lose momentum again when he returns but next season will be fun.
They played with more effort the last 3 games, but they also won 3 straight and a narrow loss to the nuggets with lebron before he missed these last 3 games
The gymnastics you just pulled lmao. He’s 41 dude, it’s ok. This won’t affect his legacy.
No gymnastics needed, simple context on who they played, sorry it is too complex for you. Lakers are 11-6 this season when Luka, Reaves and Lebron play together. Is that simple enough?
😂just had a good win and first thing we do is bring up Bron
Most of those teams were bad teams and at the beginning of the season but leave that out to help your narrative I guess
Lebron fans SWEATING that Lakers beat another good team without him lmao
You’re in every post saying the same thing, what a sad life
then dont read it tf
You must be new to the internet.
None of this means anything. Because the Lakers aren’t a contender and have no shot without him in the playoffs, especially considering Reaves playoff history.
You sound like a giddy schoolgirl. It’s the hot take era, LeBron will be back, they’ll win a couple games and this will all be forgotten about.
You clowns are insufferable and get fooled everytime.