LeBron James hasn't made himself many fans after some controversial statements in the past week since the All-Star break came to an end, from his playoff activation to the sly criticism of his teammates as the Los Angeles Lakers have fallen to 1-2 since the break. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith put it quite bluntly on Tuesday's edition of First Take, claiming the biggest problem in La La Land is The King himself.
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The king of hot takes followed that statement with even more fire
“From this day forward, we're going to stop calling LeBron James the best player in the world,” said Smith. “LeBron James is obviously great, the Mt. Rushmore and all of that other stuff… God forbid that I point out that he ain't playing no defense on too many occasions, that guys are blowing by him, that guys are salivating for the opportunity for LeBron James to be defending them, so they can abuse it because he's not 100 percent healthy. We recognize that.
What I am primarily saying about him not being the best player in the world right now is because LeBron James is not 100 percent healthy. If he's 100 percent healthy and he's got that extra motor in, then that would be different. But age, attrition and injury — something is not right. He doesn't look like himself.”
A few recent clips of James playing no defense against the Grizzlies shows more than just injury, but a complete disregard from his matchup in all senses of the word. From failing to close out on wide-open shooters down the stretch, to ball-watching as the ball is swung around the perimeter with no reaction, to puppet-type shadowing of players without the intention to contest — James has been skating by on defense and the Lakers have certainly felt the effects of it.
While he's been slyly critical of the young core, it's actually the veterans surrounding him that have failed to have the right impact for this team, but most importantly, that a player of his defensive capabilities (injured or not) is failing to put in the effort to close games out with his defensive abilities.
James told reporters his injury was behind him and that he would tackle this closing run of the regular season with full steam ahead, but so far, it's been a rah-rah motion to get this team to the playoffs and very few actions to prove it.
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