The Los Angeles Lakers looked exactly the way most expected them to against the Golden State Warriors in their season opener.
Namely: overmatched and uncompetitive.
LeBron James had little troubling diagnosing what ailed his squad after the game.
The real question now is where everyone goes from here.
According to ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, alarm bells should already be going off in Laker Land.
.@WindhorstESPN breaks down LeBron’s “Truth Shake” and why it’s a bad sign for the Lakers 🧐 pic.twitter.com/8ZF6AHVh88
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 19, 2022
“When LeBron gives a statement and does the ‘shake’ that’s a tell he’s laying it out,” Windhorst said on NBA Today.
“You usually see the truth shake in January or February about 7-10 days out from the trade deadline, when he evaluates where his team is. And he’s usually right, by the way. Doesn’t always mean his team can do something. Everything he said is right. You can go back and look, whenever that shake comes… it’s just never good to have the truth shake in October.
“You don’t want it in October. He compared it to football, he’s like ‘if you don’t have a quarterback who can throw the ball 30 yards downfield, you don’t throw the ball 30 yards downfield, you throw it underneath.’ He even referenced Tom Brady winning with the Buccaneers. And I agree with that. He is right. So why are the Lakers shooting 40 three-pointers a game?
“They were 26th in the preseason on three-point shooting. They were terrible [Tuesday night]. On balance, they’re not gonna be a good three-point shooting team and they can’t play that way — and LeBron knows it on October 18th.”
The Lakers shot 10-of-40 from three in their first game of the season. James, specifically, went 3-of-10.
Why is James, a career 34 percent three-point shooter, lobbing up 10 attempts per game? Because there is nobody else on the Lakers who can.
L.A. has been linked to a pair of top shooters over the past few months. Thus far, the front office has not pulled the trigger on a move.
At least one interesting thing happened at the Chargers game this week. https://t.co/AOtkMWoKde
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 19, 2022
Based on early returns from this week, they’d be wise to alter that position.
Can James and the Lakers turn this sinking ship around before it’s too late?
Time will tell.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
