Four-time NBA champion LeBron James did his normal thing in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opener against the rival Golden State Warriors Tuesday evening.
James scored 31 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out eight assists in a brilliant statistical performance from the all-time great.
Unfortunately, it came amid a blowout loss to the defending champs in which the Lakers found themselves down by as many as 27 points in the third quarter. Simply put, Los Angeles didn’t even look like it belonged on the same court as the defending champs in San Francisco.
Following the game, it seemed that King James opted to go to his book of excuses for the first time in the 2022-23 season. While there might be some merit to what he had to say, already pushing back against the Lakers’ roster construction can’t be seen as a good thing.
“We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks. To be completely honest, we’re not a team constructed of great shooting. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.”
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James after season-opening loss
Indeed, the Lakers shot 10-of-40 from three-point range in the 14-point loss. James connected on just 3-of-10 himself with Anthony Davis missing on all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. In fact, Russell Westbrook made the team’s only three-pointer in the first half (it’s a thing that actually happened).
Despite this, putting the Lakers’ roster construction on blast after just one game seems to be a shot in the direction of general manager Rob Pelinka and their front office, potentially creating further issues behind the scenes.
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LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are not ready to compete
The backdrop here was Golden State receiving its championship rings before the game. Los Angeles had to know that it would be a difficult task to take out a superior team on the road to open its season.
With that said, many glaring issues popped up in this blowout loss. Los Angeles’ bench scored all of 21 points compared to 41 for the Warriors’ second unit. Despite dominating in the paint and when it comes to points off turnovers, the Lakers were overmatched in nearly every possible way.
Under as much of a microscope as any player in modern NBA history, James is going to draw criticism when his team struggles. That was the case during an ugly 49-loss 2021-22 campaign. It was also the case Monday evening after he was seen laughing it up with Warriors star Draymond Green with the Lakers down 27 points in the third quarter.
As for James’ postgame comments, he detailed further the issues with Los Angeles’ roster.
“When you get those opportunities, you take them. But we’re not sitting here with a bunch of 40-plus [percent] career three-point shooting guys.”
LeBron James after season-opening loss
That’s a fair assessment. James shot 36% from distance a season ago. Westbrook came on at 30% while Davis hit on a mere 19% of his shots from beyond the arc. In today’s perimeter game, having your three stars perform at that level from distance is not a recipe for success.
But calling out the roster after one game can create more issues behind the scenes. Not only is he calling out the Lakers’ brass, he’s making it clear that his teammates have limited upside.
We will see how all of this plays out as the Lakers take on their Southern California rivals in that of the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. For now, the 2022-23 season has started pretty much like last season ended. Excuses without many answers.