Does LeBron James A tweet after a loss put more pressure on Pelinka and the rest of the Lakers’ front office?
There are times when LeBron James and the Lakers turn it up a notch, like in their best game of the season, a double-overtime win over the Warriors on Saturday night. In 48 minutes, LeBron scored 36 points, grabbed 20 rebounds, and passed the ball 12 times.
One thing that these Lakers do well, though, is not being consistent. To put it politely. After that win, they lost on the road to the Blazers and the Hawks, which were two of the games they could have won on their way to the Grammys.
Because of their losses, the Lakers fell below.500 again (24–25), and next are Boston and New York.
“Any night, we could beat any NBA team.” “Then any night we were able to get our behinds kicked,” LeBron James said after the game. So, that’s why LeBron shared this on X (which used to be Twitter) after the Heat lost.
As far as passive-aggressive front-office manipulation goes, LeBron is the king. That’s not his job—that’s the job of the front office—and he loves the guys within the locker room, so this isn’t important to him.
LeBron James and the rest of the Lakers’ team have an uncanny ability to take their play to a whole new level. The recent double-overtime win over the Warriors, which was called the best game of the season, was a great example of this.
LeBron scored 36 points, grabbed 20 rebounds, and passed the ball 12 times in an extended 48-minute performance. Even more amazing is the fact that he does these amazing things at the age of 39, which has never happened before.
But consistency isn’t what makes these Lakers stand out. After the win mentioned above, they lost on the road to both the Rockets and the Hawks, which was a setback in games that should have been easier for them while they were on their way to the Grammys.
The Lakers are now 24–25, which puts them back below 500. They have games coming up against Boston or New York. After the disappointing loss to the Hawks, LeBron made a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that was related to this statement.
In his thoughts after the game, LeBron James was honest: “We could beat any NBA team on any given night.” On the other hand, we could face a crushing defeat any night.
LeBron, who is good at passive-aggressive moves against the front office, plays down the importance of the situation by saying he doesn’t care about building the team’s roster, which is a job he supposedly gives to the front office.
Even though he tells his teammates how much he loves them, actions speak louder than words. Even though he is 39 years old, LeBron has a strong desire to compete for another championship, and you can feel the urgency.
This message for Rob Pelinka is a call to action, which makes me wonder what Pelinka can do. But this action tells you more than words. LeBron is 39 years old and wants to compete for the championship again.
It won’t take a single trade or a bunch of trades involving viable players to make the Lakers a serious championship contender.
People who like the Lakers often talk about how smart Pelinka was at the time of the trade deadline the previous season.
Finding a move this year that is comparable to the impactful acquisition for Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, along with the secondary exchange for Rui Hachimura, is proving to be an impossible task.