Getty Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Friday night didn’t end up being the triumphant return that LeBron James was likely hoping for. The Los Angeles Lakers ended up losing 110-106 to the 12th seed Sacramento Kings. They were also missing their leading scorer in De’Aaron Fox.
With the Lakers finally having all of their stars back, it was not a game they should’ve ever lost. LeBron, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond all played well enough as each scored over 15 points. The rest of the roster apparently took the night off, as Ben McLemore was the only other player to get over 10 points. It was a really bad game for Los Angeles, but the team should be more hopeful than it was over the last month.
LeBron was rusty in his return, but he did play well. However, he might not be fully healthy. In fact, the superstar dropped some concerning comments after the game on Friday.
“I know getting back to 100% is impossible. I’ll never get back to 100% in my career,” LeBron said after the loss. “But I felt comfortable where I knew I could get on the floor and help my team win.”
That was a surprisingly candid statement from the reigning NBA Finals MVP. He’s spent so much of his career injury-free that it’s hard to imagine him not being 100% again. Now that he’s 36 years old, age appears to be catching up with him. The hope will be that it’s not catching up too fast.
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LeBron Addresses Difficult Time He Had
There are many great basketball players who don’t necessarily love the sport. There are a lot of average basketball players who are obsessed with the sport. LeBron is among the players who are both great at basketball and are completely enthralled with the sport. Throughout his 18 years in the NBA, he hasn’t had to miss a lot of time due to injury. He revealed that this recent stretch was not a great time for him.
“It was horrible, honestly, for me,” LeBron said of the time away. “I was more stressful than I’ve ever been.”
The fact that the Lakers went 8-12 while he was out didn’t help the stress. The team was going to be a top-three seed in the Western Conference, and now it’s looking like they will be lucky if they can hold onto the fifth seed.
Anthony Davis Explains Silver Lining
Losing to the Kings is never a good feeling for the Lakers, especially when they’re in a tight race to hold onto the fifth seed. While it was a bad night for the team, Anthony Davis is more concerned with the long-term effects.
“Even though we don’t want to lose, we do want to take a step in the right direction every time we step on the floor and gain some momentum going into the playoffs. But it doesn’t really matter where we are,” Davis said Friday. “We know how confident we are in ourselves. We know what the team is capable of. We know that once we reach the playoffs, it’s a different story.”
The Lakers may not care about seeding, but they should. If they drop to the sixth seed, they’ll be playing the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs. It’s highly preferable they stay in the fifth seed and play the Denver Nuggets.
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