LeBron James doesn’t like losing, nor is he all that familiar with it. James hasn’t had a losing record in February since his rookie season, which was also the last time he finished a season with a losing record.
The Los Angeles Lakers, on the other hand, have only known losing for the greater half of this decade. The last time the Lakers finished a season with a winning record was in 2013, when Kobe Bryant willed his team to the playoffs before tragically rupturing his Achilles tendon with two games left in the regular season. They haven’t sniffed the postseason since then.
Following the Lakers’ loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, their 30th of the season, James told reporters that he feels that there are people in the locker room that aren’t as bothered by losing as they should be (via Spectrum SportsNet):
Kuzma said almost the exact same thing in his postgame interview, but James questioned whether or not some of his teammates understand what it really means to make a push for the playoffs at this stage of the season:
James said that he was sympathetic to the various injuries the team has suffered throughout the season, including his own, but he thinks most of their problems can be traced back to effort and dedication to their craft:
James has been pretty patient and understanding with the way his first season in Los Angeles has gone so far, but it sounds like he’s getting to a point where he’s tired of hearing excuses, whether it’s from the front office, the coaching staff or his teammates.
When asked if he thinks the Lakers have enough to turn things around and start playing consistently, James gave an honest, but discouraging, answer:
With a loss to the Pelicans on Saturday, the Lakers are 3.5 games of the eighth seed in the Western Conference, which is the furthest they’ve been out of the playoff picture since November. They’ll have the opportunity to shrink that gap on Monday, when they face the lowly Memphis Grizzlies, but if they’re not going to capitalize on wins they’re supposed to on their schedule, it might not matter.
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