Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James season in review

The Meangirl LeBron

Let’s not kid ourselves Laker Nation; we knew inevitable drama would result from signing LeBron James, yet pretended the ship would sail smoothly.

We all remember the notorious Cavaliers’ Instagram post excluding Kevin Love, David Blatt’s swift exit from Cleveland, Kyrie Irving requesting a trade to be his own man, and so on. LeBron James and locker room drama go hand-in-hand, but this is a sacrifice any fan would gladly make for a chance to root for the world’s best player.

However, much to Laker Nation’s initial chagrin, this wasn’t an issue for the first portion of the season. LeBron’s attitude suggested he’d bought into the team’s roster and coaching staff, but then he went down with the groin injury.

Besides the obvious detriment of missing LeBron James from a basketball standpoint, it also isn’t preferable to provide The King time to relax at home, pull out his royal cookbook, and prepare some fresh drama.

Once the team began struggling without LeBron, the noise around Luke Walton’s job security started to surface. On Brian Windhorst’s podcast “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective,” ESPN’s NBA reporter Jackie MacMullen detailed how LeBron’s camp was eager for a coaching change.

This ignited an immersing of instability within the confines of the team, front office, and organization as a whole. Losing streaks happen all the time, especially when a squad’s best player goes down with an injury. But this report cemented this slide in standings in a concrete way, debilitating the team’s chemistry in a permanent manner.

Following this report, around two weeks later, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Anthony Davis trade request publicly submitted by his and LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul. The motive behind this request was clear immediately: Klutch Sports was aiming to land AD in Los Angeles by the trade deadline.

Typically, a trade request like this would not completely alter the chemistry of the preferred team on the star’s list. However, due to LeBron being the client and best friend of Rich Paul, circumstances were understandably different throughout this tense scenario.

Instead of denying being behind the trade saga, LeBron dodged the controversy for the most part, while his young teammates found themselves having to address the rumors every day with the media.

This drastically affected the chemistry of the Lakers, especially since Magic Johnson and the front office ultimately weren’t able to acquire Davis. So the team found themselves left with a disgruntled, aging superstar, moody veterans, and a cluster of young players essentially stripped of all trade value through the leaked negotiations.

Here is when LeBron should have abandoned his Mean Girl facade and went back to the mentorship role he had taken on earlier in the year. The NBA is a league filled with humans who have feelings, so it’s reasonable that many were hurt by Klutch Sports’ steadfast mission to get Davis to the Lakers by any means necessary. But embarking upon a winning streak has been proven to solve chemistry issues hundreds of times before.

LeBron and the Lakers weren’t ever able to go on the winning streak needed to reach the playoffs, though, While The King emphasized the notion that he was about to access “playoff mode,” he never displayed any tangible sense of urgency on the court.

This lack of effort and mental engagement was exhibited most visibly in the Lakers’ loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on February 25th. This game was the epitome of win or go home for the Purple & Gold, who were gradually sliding in the standings and facing a steep hill to climb the rest of the way. Despite LeBron’s stated intent on activating playoff mode, he displayed some of the laziest effort I’ve ever seen from him.

His obvious numbers in this game weren’t terrible at all, as he went for his routine 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. His apparent lack of interest in winning, on the other hand, was abundantly clear while watching the contest.

There was a viral defensive mishap at the end of the game by LeBron, but it was somewhat overblown by the media. Walton had asked LeBron to essentially play zone down low in hopes of settling down the Mike Conley – Jonas Valencunias combo that was killing them throughout the fourth quarter.

While he should not have dropped so low in the paint and also should have communicated more effectively with Reggie Bullock, who was wrongly stuck to his opponent in the corner, this mistake wasn’t all on LeBron at all. What can be put on him was his offensive lack of interest in other instances of the game.

On defense, LeBron looked as disinterested as he ever has before. He would stand completely still during help situations as if his feet were plastered in quicksand. When the ball was moving, and his opponents were attacking the basket, LeBron would stay attached to his own man, disrupting any sense of defensive coherence the team could have possibly had.

This laziness even translated to the offensive end. LeBron rarely moved when off the ball throughout the game, occasionally even taking himself out of the play entirely while waiting near halfcourt for his teammates to score on their own. Fans can blame Luke Walton all they want, but when your best player refuses to partake in the offense unless directly involved in a play, no coach will be able to inspire effort from his other players.

During this stretch of the season, after Klutch Sports’ AD trade request completely failed, LeBron acted like a pompous preteen named Brad who was placed on an AAU squad with inferior teammates.

However, the Lakers, despite their terrible roster construction, are still an NBA team with several good players and the best player in the world. There was no reason for LeBron to compose himself as if he had been wronged, especially considering the fact that the AD trade saga played a major role in altering the team’s chemistry.

After a promising start to the season, when LeBron lifted up his teammates and served as a tremendous leader, he chose to abandon the positive role he had occupied before. He began outcasting his coach and teammates through his strange comments to the media, uninspired play, and workings behind the scenes.

LeBron began conducting himself as though he is an actual King, ignoring the inherent responsibilities that come with being a leader.

Similarly to Regina George, his behavior screamed, “You can’t sit with us.”