Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers are in the news for all the wrong reasons following an humiliating road loss to the lowly Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
Said loss was punctuated by questionable defense from LeBron James and the star making some rather interesting comments after the game (watch here).
With the Los Angeles now mired in a deep slump and as the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference, former Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal spoke up about the issues.
“Something that needs to be addressed,” Shaq said about James’ comments on Tuesday night’s TNT pregame show. “You made some comments? Who are you talking about? What do you mean? Again, as players, it’s no time to sit and sulk. If you don’t want to be traded or you don’t want to be talked about, step up.”
A lot was made of trade talks surrounding multiple Lakers players ahead of the deadline earlier in February. Since said deadline, Los Angeles boasts a 2-4 record with losses to the Hawks, Pelicans and Grizzlies.
Outside of LeBron, the Lakers’ core is young. They’ve never been involved in a drama-filled situation like we have seen over the past couple weeks. They certainly have not been involved in a playoff race.
Even then, it is Mr. James role to help his team understand the nuances of a playoff race. It’s certainly his role to set the tone. What we saw from him on defense Monday night was not that.