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[The Ringer] The Lakers Are Completely Squandering LeBron’s Final Act



[The Ringer] The Lakers Are Completely Squandering LeBron’s Final Act

by Blood_Incantation

31 Comments

  1. browndude10

    well lebron got his son drafted to play with him despite not being nba ready at all and who he wanted as his coach for the team he’s on lol

  2. twovles31

    Only one team can win a title every year. It seems like the Lakers are just going to make as much money as possible on Lebron’s final years and make a trade for the next superstar that wants to play in LA when Lebron retires.

  3. Good_NewsEveryone

    This all boils down to who is to blame for the Westbrook trade. Which…. maybe we’ll never know the exact details of who wanted what there; but seems to be largely LeBron driven

  4. NoLimitSoldier31

    LBJ chose to sign there with that front office

  5. chungus_wungus

    It’s all press. The Lakers are an unserious team and have been for awhile now. It’s annoying and will still be annoying hearing the “oh Lakers have 2 top ten players they need more help tho” and around January when we are in dog water, LeBron, AD, and/or Reddick will have some quote out there like:

    “We’re a physically dominant team and we don’t get the calls to show for it”

    “Our star players are always attacking the paint and get no calls down there. Some teams just get a better whistle than us”

    Or

    “We’re X in the league in paint scoring and x in the league on FTa a game. It doesn’t make sense.”

    Then cue up the free throw advantage, trading for some random role player and magically there’s nothing but good press all around.

  6. FrankSamples

    I mean they make the playoffs consistently and made the WCF just two years ago. They just ran into a much better team.

  7. Thealbumisjustdrums

    They are but he refuses to leave despite their incompetence so I don’t feel that bad for him even though he’s my favorite player. I would have left years ago if I were him. 

  8. Traditional_Golf_221

    Outside of trading Austin Reeves, DLO and future firsts, do they have much to offer?

  9. people act like lebron resigned multiple times with a gun to his head

  10. RunninOnMT

    Jeremy Grant is not worth two first round picks.

    But lets keep em coming with articles like this! We can turn this around by the trade deadline, i’m confident!

  11. Accurate-Albatross34

    I love Bron, but why do we act like every year he’s not in the finals is somehow an indictment on the organization? It’s the world’s best basketball league with more talent than ever and Lebron isn’t even a top 5 player anymore, neither is his costar. The role players around them are generally quite good. Are they boston? No, but who the fuck is? This discourse is really annoying man.

  12. chriskot123

    I mean, they won 4 years ago, make the playoffs, they just have a team that is their kryptonite they ran into twice. And last year you could easily argue they should’ve won that series. Ya I mean, they could do more I’m sure but it’s not like they are a buncha bums flaming out before the playoffs every year.

  13. Name-Bunchanumbers

    This is Lebron’s fault. When they won in 2020 they had a championship team. Then they had one season of bad injury luck and Lebron blew it up. The unloaded the cupboard, and now its bare. They also had the problems where they didn’t want to make longer extensions past Lebron’s small extensions. Which mean that free agents were taking longer cheaper deals elsewhere and Ty Lue didn’t want to be a part of this short term process.

    The only way to dig themselves out would be for JJ to start dialing up plays for Cam Reddish and Wood, boost their trade value and ship them out for someone that can make up for the extreme defensive holes.

  14. Steelers7589

    He’s doing it to himself. If he wants to win he could go to a different team

  15. I_Set_3_Alarms

    Bubble ring followed by the failed Westbrook trade let them feel like they never need to try again while LeBron is there

  16. cybercummer69

    Him and AD have been hurt for half their pairing. Then they made trades / changes he wanted after winning a chip. All in all getting a ring among all the craziness that has happened is pretty good. “Completely squandering” is a typical clickbaity hot take.

  17. I’d actually disagree with this, they have done everything for Lebron so far, the moves that were made just haven’t worked out since 2020

  18. c_c_c__combobreaker

    I see that this Ringer writer gets his content from the Lakers subreddit.

  19. Toeknee99

    I fucking hate the Lakers, but this is all Lebron’s doing. People love to shit on the LeGM meme, but come on, he literally got his son signed when he has no business playing in the NBA. The Westbrook debacle was also all him. 

  20. gg_jittes

    As far as I know, no one is holding him hostage here

  21. OceanicLemur

    LeBron did it to himself. The Cavs were the face of mediocrity and dysfunction before he left Miami and went back. He got all the control over roster decisions and head coaches that he wanted, and in return he got 1 ring that he had to absolutely drag them to.

    Then he goes to LA and it’s the same shit. Terrible roster decisions, a head coaching carousel, and LeBron pulling the strings the entire time.

    I love LeBron but I think it’s undeniable that between Cleveland and LA he spent the vast majority of his career playing for mediocre coaches and front offices, all by his choice. It’s why I believe he has 2 rings in his 4 years in Miami and 2 rings in his other 16 seasons.

  22. Joseph20102011

    I hope Lebron and his nepo kid will be traded soon and then, the Buss family will fully divest from the franchise and have a new owner.

  23. simonffplayer

    dude is a genius when it comes to narratives. he was heavily involved w/ recruiting westbrook there. if they’d just kept the players traded for westbrook there’s a good chance bron gets a fifth ring

    # Inside the Russell Westbrook talks with LeBron, AD that led to Lakers’ blockbuster trade

    *About two weeks ago, Russell Westbrook went to LeBron James’ home and together they and Anthony Davis had a conversation about the All-Star guard joining James and Davis on the Lakers.*

  24. KayRay1994

    No…. Lebron is squandering Lebron’s final act. He’s been responsible for a lot of the team’s decisions the past 6 years.

  25. Coming from a big Bron fan here… The Russell Westbrook trade did irreparable damage to the team. He was one of the biggest proponents in making that happen. He bears a lot of responsibility for this… But, he didn’t choose Talen Horton Tucker over Alex Caruso 😯😬.

  26. PLZ_N_THKS

    If the Lakers weren’t the Lakers they’d be a laughing stock of the league since Jerry Buss died. His kids don’t know shit about running a team and just got lucky that players want to be in LA and the history that was built before them.

  27. openlatenight

    They could only hire JJ because no one wanted to coach lebron, he’s the issue

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