The Los Angeles Lakers fell 108-90 to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night. With this most recent defeat, they dropped to 16-16 on the year.
Sitting at .500 and seventh in the Western Conference is not where most envisioned LA at the start of the season.
After his squad’s most recent crushing defeat, LeBron James got brutally honest about where they go from here.
His comments were telling.
“Just stay together, stay together,” he said.
“We know we’re in a rough patch right now with guys coming back from injury, with guys in and out of protocol. Guys that’s injured. So, let’s just stay together until we come whole, or as close to whole as possible. Obviously, we got a lot of guys out right now. But, I loved our fight, I thought we had a good fight tonight. We just couldn’t make enough plays.”
James, for his part, did make enough plays. He finished with 34 points on 13-of-19 shooting and seven boards in 34 minutes of action. Unfortunately, he just didn’t get much help.
As usual, Russell Westbrook spent the majority of the game throwing the ball to the other team. He ended the night with seven turnovers.
Obviously the Lakers are hampered by injuries and COVID-related absences. Avery Bradley, Kent Bazemore, Austin Reaves, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk and Anthony Davis are all out, as is head coach Frank Vogel. But they weren’t even particularly good prior to losing all those guys.
LA has had conversations with two teams about a Westbrook trade. There has also been some loose talk about dealing away Davis in a last-ditch effort to salvage James’ remaining years in the NBA.
Paulina Gretzky knows how to celebrate a birthday right. https://t.co/luTTz3X5aB
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 21, 2021
And then of course the Myles Turner chatter continues to percolate.
But short of one of those three things actually coming to fruition, it feels like things are going to get much worse for the Lakers before there’s any chance of them getting better.
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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.
