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LeBron James doesn’t seem to care about Lakers losing, why should we?

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: LeBron James #6 and Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers walk back to the court after a timeout during a 111-104 Indiana Pacers win at Crypto.com Arena on January 19, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2022 NBAE (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: LeBron James #6 and Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers walk back to the court after a timeout during a 111-104 Indiana Pacers win at Crypto.com Arena on January 19, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2022 NBAE (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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After the biggest win over the Utah Jazz on Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted a not-so-great Indiana Pacers team with the chance to get some momentum on Wednesday. However, instead of picking up the much-needed momentum, the Lakers blew a 15-point lead to the Pacers and lost. Worst of all, LeBron James did not seem to care much about the loss afterward.

LeBron James cut his media session with reporters short as he was going to go see a movie with his wife (the movie releases have been a bit dry since ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ so I am not even sure what was so important to see at 11 p.m. at night).

Look, there is nothing wrong with a player going to see a movie with his wife after he plays. Basketball should not consume everything he does in life and expecting that to be the case would just be foolish. However, for him to react the way he did just days after he tweeted an apology to Laker fans seems a bit strange.

And quite frankly, this showcased one of the bigger issues with the Los Angeles Lakers, on top of all of the roster malpractice that the front office has had in recent months.

LeBron James, and the Los Angeles Lakers, don’t seem to care.

LeBron James is putting up incredible numbers and he deserves credit for that but at the end of the day, the Lakers reek of a team that does not care much about the regular season. There are a lot of veterans on this team, Anthony Davis is hurt and it really does seem like this is a team that is just looking ahead to the postseason.

That is fine if you can play winning basketball but the Lakers obviously have not been able to do that. At some point you have to kick things into gear and pick up some of these games or else you can end up in the play-in tournament, which is the most likely outcome. And I’m sorry, but I don’t know if the Lakers can win two games in a row in the play-in if they are the ninth or 10th seed.

It raises the question: if LeBron James and the rest of the team don’t care about these regular-season results, why should we? Of course, as fans, we are always going to care and continue to get frustrated about this team. But this feels like a work relationship where our co-workers are already looking ahead to that vacation that might not even be there. We are putting in our work (emotional, financial investment) in this Lakers team and they are not putting in their work.

Heck, the only one that seems to really care is Russell Westbrook (who did not talk to the media at all after being benched at the end of the game on Wednesday). But even Westbrook only seems to care about his numbers and his play. Hence why this has been such a disaster.

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It has been such a fall from grace for the Lakers that can all be stemmed back to one trade. Unfortunately, this is going to continue to be the reality for the team for this season and next, and after that, we could be back in the dark ages. Fun.