"The days of LeBron being LeBron and dragging guys along with him, that’s over" - Shannon Sharpe says LeBron James can’t play any better despite LA Lakers' struggles
The LA Lakers' struggles continue despite LeBron James' brilliance in the last 10+ games. LBJ has dominated night-in-night-out, but it is not translating to wins for the Lakers and is a significant source of concern.
The Lakers hosted the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center and were blown out, losing the game 138-110. It was a terrible loss for the Purple and Gold despite LeBron James' 36-point contribution. Outside of Russell Westbrook, who had 30 points, no other Laker scored more than 13 points.
LeBron James' excuse for their performance was that they were missing significant players, including head coach Frank Vogel. But the Lakers have struggled all season, even when the currently missing pieces were on the floor.
Meanwhile, Shannon Sharpe spoke on the loss along with Skip Bayless on their show, UNDISPUTED: Skip and Shannon. The former NFL star believes the Lakers are a bad basketball team despite LeBron James blaming the loss on their depleted roster.
"I just don't see it. They gave up 66 points just in the first half, and just to show everybody how bad they are defensively they gave up 71 in the second half. They gave up 71 to a team that their best player went 3-of-16 from the floor."
"If the Lakers could correct one thing, what would it be? There isn't one thing. They're terrible at defense, they don't guard the three, they don't shoot the three, they turn the ball over, they're atrocious from the free-throw line. So, if you correct one thing, they are still a bad team."
"When have we ever seen LeBron be as efficient as he is and his teams are getting blown out? The days of LeBron being LeBron, and being able to drag guys along with him, that's over. Because I don't believe he can play any better than what he's playing."
The loss was painful to watch and took the Lakers to an under .500 team. A bitter LeBron James took to Instagram to show his frustration, insinuating that the COVID-19 virus is the same as cold and flu. While you can understand his annoyance at losing a good number of his teammates to the health and safety protocols, it was a joke in bad taste.
Can LeBron James rally his teammates to play better?
LeBron James is known to be a leader on and off the court. One thing he is known for is his ability to make everyone around him better, but that is not happening with this Lakers team.
LeBron last 4 games:
30 PPG
10 RPG
5 APG
56 FG%
The Lakers are 0-4 in that span. https://t.co/nGTydDsv2w
King James is shouldering the majority of the load and is not getting much help from his teammates. He has continually shown he will do anything to win, but his supporting cast is not operating on the same wavelength.
LeBron James has scored the most points in the league in the last seven games, but the Lakers have only won three of those games. So far this season, he is averaging 26.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks.