Veteran sports analyst and commentator Stephen A. Smith didn't hold back in his criticisms of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers amid a chaotic season where missing the playoffs is a real possibility.

In his latest appearance on NBA Countdown, Stephen A. called the Lakers an “atrocity.” He went went as far as to giving a new meaning to the NBA for the Purple and Gold, saying they are a “national basketball atrocity.” Smith also highlighted that everyone is to blame for the disaster that LA has been this 2021-22, from the owner to the players–specifically James.

Smith also doesn't think that the Lakers would be title contenders even if they were healthy, pointing to all the bad moves they made in the offseason

“The Lakers are a national basketball atrocity, let's just call it what it is. They are an atrocity. And that stars from the top, down. It starts from Jeanie Buss allowing Linda Rambis to have power. It goes from there and disintegrates down to Rob Pelinka, who feels that as long as you're wearing purple and gold and you're a Laker, you'll be just fine,” Smith ranted.

“It seeps further down to Frank Vogel, who lost the team because they stopped listening to him a long time ago. And in the middle of all of it is the culpability on the shoulders of LeBron James–not LeBron James the player because [he] has balled out [but it's] LeBron James the GM. The reason I say that is because you could have Ty Lue as your coach but you cave in the management when they wanted to keep Jason Kidd … You settled for Frank Vogel, let Jason Kidd go to Dallas and now he's a Coach of the Year candidate.”

Stephen A. Smith emphasized that the Lakers showed “ineptitude” and “inefficiency,” as well as an undeniable “embarrassment of arrogance” which all lead to their poor performance. While Anthony Davis can argue the injury woes as a major factor, Smith fired back and shared that it wouldn't change the fact that they wouldn't be able to win the championship in any way.

Those are certainly harsh words from Stephen. A; however, he does have valid points in his argument. But then again, hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to blame when things are not working out.

The Lakers did seem poised for success with their Big 3 of LeBron, Davis and Russell Westbrook. However, the fit for Russ just wasn't there and the injuries didn't help at all.

Los Angeles can't focus too much on the past now, though. They need to make changes in the offseason in order to put themselves back to contention and relevance, and that starts by deciding on what to do with Russ and AD. They have been linked to a potential exit, though it is entirely possible that the Lakers keep them given how hard it would be to move their contracts.

It has also been made clear that the Lakers need to be younger and more athletic, something they lost when they moved the likes of Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso in the 2021 offseason. With that said, a major roster revamp behind their core is a must for LA to be able to turn things around faster.

Hopefully, their messy campaign won't have a major impact in their search for trades and free agents to get the team back up.