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LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers got brutally disrespected by NBA legend Charles Barkley on April 6.
The Hall of Famer said the Lakers aren’t going to make any noise in the playoffs (if they make it) and that Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is the king of Los Angeles.
“The Lakers ain’t gonna make no run,” Barkley said on NBA on TNT. “Kawhi Leonard ran them out of the building last night. Kawhi sent them a message last night. He’s the king of LA.”
The Lakers lost to the Clippers by a final score of 125-118 on April 5. LAC has won 11 straight games against LAL. Leonard put up 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 43 minutes. Meanwhile, James — whose nickname is the King — finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Clippers are in fifth place in the Western Conference standings, while the Lakers are in seventh place.
Charles Barkley on LeBron James: The Greatest Story in Sports History
Barkley may have bashed James and the Lakers on April 6, but the basketball icon had nothing but positive things to say about LeBron in a March 27 interview with Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated.
“I will say this about LeBron. I think his story is the greatest story in sports history,” Barkley said. “What I mean by that is, you look at other great players who went directly from high school to the pros. Kobe Bryant struggled, Kevin Garnett struggled, Tracy McGrady struggled, Dwight Howard struggled. LeBron is the only one who had success from Day One. He was really good Day One. He’s obviously up here now. But the most amazing thing about him, in this 24-hour news cycle, cellphones, internet, he’s never gotten in trouble.”
James entered the league in 2003 straight out of high school. He became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on February 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. James, 38, is the only player in NBA history to rank top-five all-time in both points and assists.
“No scandal. To be, number one, ready at 18, to where he is 20 years later, the greatest scorer in NBA history. I think it’s the greatest story in sports history. For a guy to be that good from Day One and never screw up is amazing,” Barkley said. “Yes. And lived up to it (the hype). Exceeded it. And, like I say, in our 24-hour news cycle where people out here tryin’ to get you, people are tryin’ to get you today. They got cellphones everywhere; they got the internet everywhere. I tell people, his story is the greatest story in sports history.”
LeBron James: Wherever We End Up, That’s Where We End Up
The Lakers can capture the sixth seed in the Western Conference and avoid the play-in tournament by winning their final two games of the season against the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz, combined with the Golden State Warriors going 1-1. James, a four-time champion and four-time Finals MVP, told reporters after the Clippers game, “Wherever we end up, that’s where we end up.”
“Wherever we end up, that’s where we end up,” James said. “It’s been like four or five seasons in one for us. We don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘This is what we need to do. This is where we’re going to be.’ We need to still continue to play good basketball.”
James is averaging 29.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists on the season.
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