LeBron James took to Twitter to strongly refute how an article classified him as increasingly impatient with the Los Angeles Lakers front office for not trading draft picks to improve the current roster.
Early Sunday morning, The Athletic's Sam Amick published a transcript of the brief conversation he had with James after the Lakers' win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night — the team's fifth win in a row, which put them at 19-21 and on the precipice of the Western Conference playoff picture. LeBron had 37 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists as he continues to absolutely ball out since turning 38 years old in late December.
In the conversation between LeBron and Amick, the Lakers star repeatedly refuses to state any frustrations he may have with Lakers management.
“I play the game,” LeBron said. “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.”
However, LeBron punctuated the talk with an ominous statement:
“Y’all know what the f*ck should be happening. I don’t need to talk.”
In his tweets, LeBron seemed to take issue with what Amick wrote in his preamble: “James made it clear that his patience is waning.”
“Hey Sam actually my patience isn’t waning,” LeBron wrote. “You make it sound like I’m frustrated when I’m really not. I told you over and over, my job is focused on the guys in the locker room, my job isn’t the roster. That’s the reality of that conversation. And I said what I said with the … Upmost respect and calmness cause that’s the mood I’m in! Your welcome! 5 game winning streak.”
LeBron has seemingly turned up the pressure on the front office in recent weeks with both the level of his play — without Anthony Davis — that has directly led to wins and a few eyebrow-raising postgame comments. Following a loss to the Miami Heat on Dec. 28, for instance, LeBron said it wasn't in his “DNA” to play for a losing team at this stage of his career.
At media day, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, unprompted, said the franchise owes it to LeBron to dutifully use their two tradable future picks (2027, 2029) to put the Lakers in a position to compete now.
In postgame pressers since the “DNA” comments, LeBron has been noticeably irked when asked about front office moves and has dismissed the idea that he's trying to influence the organization in any fashion besides playing basketball.
After the Kings game, both Lakers head coach Darvin Ham and Russell Westbrook said the locker room agreed with LeBron's comments after the Heat game.
“No one disagreed with that,” said Ham. “He’s stating facts. It was almost like ringing the alarm. ‘Everyone wake up. It’s time to get over ourselves.'”
The Lakers haven't lost since that Heat game.
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