LOS ANGELES – LeBron James finally gave in.
For months the Lakers star has been steadfast that his team’s woes could be pinned on injuries and inconsistent lineups, all while projecting confidence that a future existed for these Lakers in which they could still make a run at a championship.
Fifty-five games into the season, James acknowledged what anyone else watching this team can plainly see: That it’s not true.
Oh, he tried to dance around it. He invoked the search for consistent rotations. He talked about health. He pointed to the stability the league’s top teams have enjoyed while the Lakers have blindly fumbled for an identity.
But after nearly 12 minutes of questions on Tuesday night, James cracked and laid the facts bare.
He was asked what the Lakers 131-116 loss to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks told him about the state of the Lakers, just 16 months removed from a title of their own.
“It tells me we ain’t on their level,” James said. “I mean, I could have told you that before the game.”
Less than 48 hours before the trade deadline, James was echoing a sentiment that has spread throughout an increasingly dispirited Lakers organization.
Sources told The Athletic that inside the locker room, players see and feel the same problems as everyone else, perhaps never more clearly than after a non-competitive loss to the champs. They understand as well as anyone that the personnel on this joyless 26-29 team simply isn’t working.
