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Recently, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4 to give themselves a 3-1 deficit as the first round playoff series heads back to Los Angeles. LeBron James played up to his legendary standards in both road games of this series, but it wasn't enough to stop Los Angeles from suffering back to back defeats against a much bigger, more athletic Timberwolves squad.
Recently, former James playoff adversary Jeff Teague took to his Club 520 podcast to make the eyebrow-raising claim that LeBron isn't as engaged in this postseason as he has been in the past.
“Bron ain’t playing for real no more, he ain’t. I’ve played against LeBron enough times, that —- don’t give a —- no more,” said Teague.
Teague also broke down what specifically about Game 4 led him to believe this is the case.
“He shot all threes. Even when he could get to the bucket, he was like —- that —-. He shot a step back three and hit the side of the backboard. I was like yeah, Bron ain’t playing for real,” said Teague. “Because usually Bron just puts his head down and drives. He’s got Rudy Gobert and s—, he’ll put his head down and drive the ball anytime. We know Bron, we’ve been watching Bron for 25 years. When they get tough, Bron drives the ball.”
Less motivation for LeBron?
Given that he's accomplished just about everything there is to achieve in the sport of basketball, it'd be understandable if there was less of a fire in LeBron James this go around as compared to postseasons past.
Still, at age 40, James knows that the clock is ticking on his NBA career, and the Lakers' recent trade for Luka Doncic was supposed to turn this team into a bona fide championship contender that could give James an opportunity to get one ring closer to catching Michael Jordan.
While he's famously come back from a 3-1 deficit before, the Lakers are currently in dire straits, to be sure. Game 4 is slated for Wednesday evening in Los Angeles and is set to get underway at 10:00 PM ET. It will be carried nationally by TNT.
