LeBron James raised eyebrows with comments made in the wake of the LA Lakers playoff exit to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The LA Lakers exited the NBA Playoffs in the opening round with a 4-1 series defeat for a second successive year.
For LeBron James, the exit was particularly disappointing as at the age of 40, his time at the top level is quickly running out.
After the season-ending Game 5 loss to Minnesota Timberwolves, LeBron James made an eyebrow raising comment.
James referred to the team lacking a center and Anthony Davis’ exit, commenting: “My guy [Anthony Davis] said what he needed, and he was gone the following week,” referencing the Luka Doncic trade.
A few days has passed since the LA Lakers exit and LeBron James’ choice of words are still being viewed bizarrely.
Speaking to ESPN LA, Ramona Shelburne expressed her view on LeBron James’ comments.
She said: “I thought it was disrespectful towards the organization.”
Shelburne also expressed that even if it was intended in a light-hearted way, the comments fell flat.
“Maybe it was a joke, I wasn’t in the room and he did laugh afterwards, but like, I don’t know if you make that joke after the way they played in the playoffs.
“I also thought it was kind of disrespectful to Luka, to AD, but mostly to the organization, they got Luka Doncic.”
“You don’t say no to that. You don’t trade AD because he asked for a center. They weren’t mad at Anthony, that had nothing to do to with it. That was just unnecessary stirring of the pot.”
Anthony Davis did voice his desire to play at power forward before the trade, but he had also expressed that this was something he had been saying for years.
Lakers president Jeanie Buss clarified comments she made after the trade, expressing how she had no idea that Doncic would be an achievable target for the team until the Mavericks made an approach.
LeBron James’ own individual performances in the playoffs were credible; he averaged 25.4 points per game during his five games played.
James also averaged 9.0 rebounds per game, playing an average of 40 minutes per match-up, statistics show. He gave it everything but ran out of gas, particularly in the fourth quarter of games.
The real problem comes back to the same issue, LeBron James was asked to do too much, due to the deficiencies on the Lakers roster.
General manager Rob Pelinka has vowed to solve this in the off-season, accepting the ‘significant issues’ that led to the team falling short in the playoffs.
LeBron’s comments may not have gone down well – but in the heat of the moment after a crushing playoff exit, his frustration is somewhat understandable.
