LeBron James compares himself to Tom Brady, strikes defiant tone: “I’m not out there to f**k around, we out there for championships"
LeBron James and the LA Lakers have endured a challenging season so far. They started with a historic losing streak that saw many confident that they would post one of the worst regular-season records in league history.
After shuffling things around by moving Russell Westbrook to a sixth-man role, the team's offensive efficiency finally began to improve.
Then, as the team was starting to get things together, they were fortunate enough to get key roleplayers, Dennis Schroder & Thomas Bryant, back. With a fully healthy roster and Anthony Davis playing incredibly dominant, the team bounced back with a 8-2 record over 10 games.
Given the fact that James is currently in the midst of his 20th season in the league, it would be easy for him to take his foot off the gas.
With four NBA championships to his name and countless NBA records to boot, James has nearly done it all. The way he sees things, however, he's just as hungry to reclaim his spot atop the NBA as he was all those years ago. This has been made apparent by James' play so far this season, which has been rather impressive despite the time he spent sitting out as a result of injuries.
“It would be different if I wasn’t still in championship mode, but I’m still playing at an incredibly high level. I’m still playing at an extremely high level. I’m not out there to f**k around. What would I do that for? Me and (Tom) Brady. We’re the same people. We out there for championships.”
The comments were relayed by The Athletic in the wake of James and the Lakers' recent loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
You can watch highlights from the game below.
What does the loss to Cavs mean for LeBron James and the Lakers?
The win for the Cavaliers was far more significant than the loss to LeBron James and the Lakers. Following James' departure from the Cavaliers after their championship win, it took quite some time before the franchise had it's feet beneath it once more.
Even then, when it came to the Play-In tournament last season, the young Cavaliers team struggled without a go-to scorer with playoff experience.
This offseason, the Cavaliers' front office managed to secure a trade for Donovan Mitchell, who has been invaluable to the franchise. For 'The Land', the win marked the continuance of the new era of Cavaliers basketball. For LeBron James and the Lakers on the other side of things, it marked a big reminder that the road ahead is a slippery slope.
Despite their recent surge over the course of the last few weeks, the team is still sitting in 13th place in the Western Conference. Although LeBron James is playing well and still has his sights set on a championship, the fact of the matter is that the team is still in a very difficult spot.
Below you can see James' comments during the post-game interview following the team's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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