Getty Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Needless to say, the preseason hasn’t gone well for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team is 0-5 and playing some sloppy basketball. The team’s big three of Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook had a chance to play together for the first time on Tuesday and the Lakers still lost 111-99 to the Golden State Warriors. Obviously, preseason games don’t matter but there are some major kinks for the team to work out.
Superteams typically take time to figure things out. The Miami Heat started off 9-8 in the team’s first season with LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. They figured things out and went to the NBA Finals that season. LeBron is now with the Lakers and trying to figures things out with a completely different superteam. He was honest about the team’s early struggles.
“It’s going to take a minute for us to become the team that we know we are going to be capable of being,” LeBron said after the loss, via ESPN. “We’re going to have moments where we’re not quite right there. We may take steps backwards. But that’s all part of … I think nothing is worth having if it’s not worth working for.”
The Lakers deserve time before fans get concerned. The team has three bonafide superstars that need to figure out how they can play together. It’s going to be rough at first but the end result could be special.
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LeBron Expresses Importance of Not Getting Frustrated
GettySteph Curry defending LeBron James.
The Lakers have a lot of big personalities on the roster with a number of future Hall of Famers. It would be a daunting task for any single player to try and lead this team. LeBron may be the only player in the NBA who can. He understands what he needs to do to effectively lead the Lakers this season.
“Me, as a leader, my job is for myself not to get frustrated,” LeBron said. “If I don’t get frustrated, I think it will trickle down to everyone else. I’ve never been a person that’s OK with not being excellent. But I understand things take time as well. As long as I keep the main thing the main thing, stay even keel throughout whatever is going on with our ballclub, then we’ll be fine.”
The Lakers aren’t a young team so they don’t need LeBron to do a ton of leading but he will be the voice they look to when things get tough. It appears that he’s more than up for the challenge.
Davis Talks Possibilities for Big 3
With Kyrie Irving not playing for the Brooklyn Nets right now, the Lakers easily have the NBA’s best big three. LeBron and Westbrook have been MVPs while Davis is one of the league’s best big men. Tuesday was just the beginning of what should be an exciting trio this season but there will be some growing pains.
“We saw some great things with me, Bron and Russ in action,” Davis said. “There’s endless possibilities, the things we can run and we can do. … And even though there were good things, a lot of things that we can do better.”
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LeBron James Gets Brutally Honest on Lakers’ Early Issues