Getty LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Things are not going particularly well for the Los Angeles Lakers on several fronts, and the most glaring sign could be LeBron James.
The usually affable James has generally made himself available to the media after every game, win or lose, locker room or otherwise. However, after the Lakers fell to the short-handed Miami Heat 110-96, James left without speaking.
“LeBron James left without speaking to reporters tonight,” reported Jovan Buha of The Athletic in a post on X, formerly Twitter on January 3.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin echoed Buha’s report in a separate message.
James struggled individually in the contest, finishing with 12 points on 33.3% shooting, including going 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. He did have nine assists to two turnovers and snagged six rebounds. It was a struggle for the team as a whole, though.
Lakers are the first team this season to shoot worse than 15 percent from three and have more than 20 turnovers.
He was a team-worst minus-20 on the night, in part due to a heavy workload of 38-plus minutes.
The Lakers have dropped to 3-8 since they won the In-Season Tournament. James has previously pointed to fatigue from that as one cause for the Lakers’ woes.
His example of the Indiana Pacers, whom the Lakers beat for the IST title, no longer holds weight. Indiana shook off their 2-6 mark in the wake of the championship game to go on a five-game winning streak, which includes back-to-back wins over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Lakers have lost three straight and fell below .500 on the season at 17.18.
Anthony Davis Sounds Alarm on Homestand
Star big man Anthony Davis has echoed James on another reason for the Lakers’ struggles: injuries. Davis noted that the lack of continuity on that front would ultimately be the Lakers’ “biggest downfall.”
Davis had another in a string of strong performances amid the Lakers’ slump. But it was not enough.
26 points on 9 of 15 FG’s
16 rebounds
5 assists
5 blocks
and 2 steals
〰️
He was optimistic about their current five-game homestand, though, given their struggles away from Crypto Currency Arena.
But, after the Lakers lost the first game, Davis noted the cause for concern.
“We’ve been a really good home team thus far, and we got a opportunity to continue to build on that,” Davis said via Spectrum SportsNet after the game. “But if we play how we play tonight then it’s going to go south for us really bad.”
Frustration Growing in Lakers’ Locker Room
All of this comes amid a report from Anthony F. Irwin on the “Lakers Lounge” podcast on December 29. of a rift between Head Coach Darvin Ham and former starting guard Austin Reaves.
Now comes a new report from Shams Charania of The Athletic on growing frustration within the Lakers’ locker room, leaving Ham on the “hot seat”.
“There’s currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room … raising questions about the head coach’s standing,” Charania wrote on January 4, citing six separate sources. “Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments.”
The concern is over the players’ inability to get into a rhythm without a set rotation.
After declaring his starting lineup ahead of the season was partially influenced by injury, Ham has shuffled the first five several times in addition to moving both of his opening night starters in the backcourt — Reaves and D’Angelo Russell to the bench. Injuries have played some part.
But, after announcing he was sticking with his newfound rotation featuring James as the lone playmaker, Ham made another change before the loss to Miami, who was without Jimmy Butler.
This is a situation to monitor, especially with the trade deadline drawing closer.