Lakers News: LeBron James Vents About LA's Apparent Trade Apathy
Winning a fifth straight game normally would be a celebratory occasion for any team, even one as middling as your lackluster 19-21 Los Angeles Lakers.
But ageless (well, 38-year-old) All-Star superstar LeBron James isn't satisfied with being two games below a .500 record. He agreed to a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension with Los Angeles this summer expecting the team would make moves to actually contend this season. Instead, the club has appeared hesitant to surrender any kind of future draft picks in an outgoing hypothetical deal, and LA is currently out of the play-in picture as the Western Conference's No. 12 seed.
The flip side to that equation: the team is actually just two games behind the West's fifth seed, the 20-18 Kings. But can LeBron James keep up his Herculean scoring run much longer while staying healthy? And how long with injured All-Star center Anthony Davis stay on the sidelines? He has already missed 12 games with a stress injury his right foot.
James has been picking up the scoring burden in a big way with AD shelved. Through 31 games, the four-time champion is averaging 29.1 points on .510/.295/.756 shooting splits, 8.2 rebounds, 6.7 assists and one steal.
After last night's high-scoring 136-134 victory over the Sacramento Kings, Sam Amick of The Athletic asked the 6'9" future Hall of Fame forward if he felt the team's front office needed to make moves to improve the club.
"Man listen, I play the game," James said about the club's team-building. "I worry about who’s in the locker room. I can’t — it’s not my … it’s not my job. I can’t do nobody else’s job... They’re doing what they feel is best for the franchise."
"If you guys know, then you guys know," James said tersely when asked about whether or not he felt it would be a mistake to prioritize future equity while he plays at such a high level this season. "You guys know. I don’t need to talk about it. You guys know... It’s not rocket science."
As James walked away following their brief chat, he shouted one final, seemingly frustrated grievance:
“Y’all know what the f–k should be happening. I don’t need to talk.”
After seeing the Amick story today, James took to Twitter in an attempt to clarify his comments:
