As expected, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Golden State Warriors on opening night and it was not pretty for most of the game. Fans that watched the Lakers in the preseason knew that the team had several massive holes that would hold them back.
Two of those issues were on full display on Tuesday night as the Lakers could not defend the Warriors in the third quarter and could not hit a three-point shot all game. Los Angeles shot 25% from beyond the arc in the contest.
Nearly every fan and pundit knew heading into the season that this roster was not constructed with enough three-point shooters. The results on Tuesday should not be surprising and LeBron James is already burying the roster that Rob Pelinka put together.
LeBron James on Lakers’ poor shooting in loss to Warriors: “We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks. To be completely honest, we’re not a team constructed of great shooting… It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.” pic.twitter.com/VfqWnKcQ3D
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) October 19, 2022
LeBron is correct, the team did get a lot of open looks and he is also correct in the sentiment that they do not have many lasers on the roster. The question becomes if LeBron was convincing himself otherwise and this was a wake-up call, or if he has known this is a problem all summer.
LeBron James is part of the reason why the Lakers don’t have shooters.
It is well-documented that LeBron James needs shooters around him that can benefit on the on-court gravity that he possesses. And while LeBron may spin this as a misdeed from the front office, he has just as big of a hand in this as Rob Pelinka does.
First of all, LeBron pushed for the team to trade for Russell Westbrook a year ago. A lot of the roster problems on this team stem from that trade and that will always loom large, regardless of what James wants to say.
Secondly, it was very clear that LeBron and Klutch Sports had some influence in who the team signed in the offseason. The options were limited, sure, but do you really think it is a surprise that most of the early free agents the team signed are also signed to Klutch?
Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown Jr. and Juan Toscano-Anderson are all Klutch Sports clients. It is not hard to see what the team prioritized early in free agency as they so happened to sign three of the Klutch Sports free agents that are on the roster.
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At the end of the day, this is probably just a leverage play by LeBron to continue putting pressure on the front office.