Lakers fans can finally agree with LeBron James on something
By Jerry Trotta
Los Angeles Lakers fans have been counting down the days until media day so the front office could finally face the music from this offseason. As expected, though, Darvin Ham and Rob Pelinka gave cookie-cutter responses to questions.
For starters, Ham and Pelinka preached confidence in the defensive capability of the Lakers’ roster, which is farcical given how they performed last season. Somehow, Pelinka did himself one better (or worse) by saying LA will do everything it can to improve the roster, including trading draft picks.
Funny, because parting with draft capital is the one thing that prevented the Lakers from improving the roster this offseason.
Long story short, Lakers media day was a huge disappointment.
Luckily, though, LeBron James put on his superhero cape and saved the day by reiterating his hatred for the Boston Celtics.
LeBron James confirming his hatred for the Boston Celtics is something every Lakers fan can get behind.
Lakers fans have oddly found it difficult to agree with LeBron on a lot of things. James pushing Pelinka and Co. to trade for Russell Westbrook last offseason tarnished a lot of the trust he established after the 2019-20 championship.
James doesn’t lock horns with the Celtics as much as he did when he played in the Eastern Conference, but it’s refreshing to hear his disdain for the franchise is still fervent. That’ll happen when you square off against the same opponent in the playoffs year after year.
Of course, it was against Boston that LeBron saved his legacy in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals when he dropped 45 points, 12 rebounds and five assists while shooting 73.1% from the floor to avoid elimination.
For his career, James has played a whopping 56 games against the Celtics. None are more memorable than that epic Game 6 performance, which many analysts consider one of the best playoff performances in league history.
Lakers fans may not see eye-to-eye with LeBron’s construction of the roster the last two seasons, but doubling (maybe tripling) down on his hatred for Boston is a great way to get back in fans’ good graces. Winning will also help that, but James’ on-court performance is far from the root of Lakers fans’ gripe with him.
It’s admittedly head-scratching that Lakers fans haven’t fully bought into LeBron. He’s already delivered a championship, has played at an MVP-caliber level since he signed and hates Boston. What more do you want him to do?
Maybe taking a backseat the next time one of his good friends becomes available would suffice, but he probably learned his lesson.