It appears that LeBron James has reached a breaking point. Granted, maybe not. But it sure looks that way.
The latest Lakers’ home loss came Monday night, against the Raptors, a game that saw James completely lose his cool, as relayed by Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post.
“During Monday’s 114-103 loss to the Raptors, James had two separate on-court outbursts — one that ended in F-bombs and another in which he viciously spiked the ball at Toronto rookie Scottie Barnes,” Lemoncelli wrote.
James has plenty of reason to be frustrated. He has been a scoring machine, seemingly working harder than ever to win at the age of 37. He was a game-time decision Monday with ongoing knee soreness, but came out and scored 30 anyway.
Of course, some will tell you that James helped build this current team, filling the roster with some of his old friends. He is finally reaping what he sowed when it comes to roster-building. Some will tell you that James will make a terrible GM someday.
LeBron is very mad pic.twitter.com/TS8EK8lq7V
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) March 15, 2022
Some of that talk isn’t fair, of course. But whoever built the Lakers did so with the idea that James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook would serve as a new Big Three. Westbrook has been a terrible fit, though, and Davis can’t stay healthy. Not now, not ever.
Truth is, the Lakers don’t look any different than Davis’ old Pelicans teams. Not horribly bad, but certainly not going anywhere.
Clearly, that reality is starting to be accepted by James. And clearly, it’s wearing on him.
The Lakers (29-39) have won just two of their previous 10 and sit in ninth place in the Western Conference. They very much seem play-in tournament-bound, and very much are looking like a one-and-done. Then what?
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