The Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2021-22 NBA season with championship aspirations. When it was all said and done, the team failed to make the playoffs altogether.
Understandably, this led to a lot of chatter regarding the direction of the franchise going forward.
One of the individuals who faced the most scrutiny, obviously, was team owner Jeanie Buss.
This week, reports emerged detailing precisely how Lakers star LeBron James feels about his owner and the way things have gone up to this point.
“From the LeBron side, as far as I understand, and before I say this it’s important with LeBron that you have to keep taking the temperature,” ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst said this week.
“Just because it’s certain one way on a Wednesday, doesn’t mean it will be Friday. But from what I understand, LeBron and Jeanie are in a good place right now. Despite the frustrations of the season, LeBron believes that a few tweaks and some health can actually turn this thing around and they can be super competitive. He is invested and wants to be there.”
As Windhorst said, though – things can change on a dime when you’re talking about James.
Buss has been very open and honest regarding her team’s failures in 2021-22. What she has been less clear about is how to right the ship.
Step one is hiring a new head coach to replace Frank Vogel, and at the moment it seems like there are two frontrunners for that.
Trades involving oft-injured center Anthony Davis and beleaguered point guard Russell Westbrook also seem to be on the table. There are four teams interested in acquiring the latter, and one notable contender for the former.
Ouch. https://t.co/tHv12RzaxD
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 12, 2022
What happens on that front, too, is up in the air.
This is shaping up to be an interesting summer for L.A. Will they be able to fix what ailed them in 2021-22 heading into 2022-23? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
