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With his team's back against the proverbial wall, LeBron James seems to be taking a different approach to motivate his teammates. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar told Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times that it's “unfair” for his team to expect so much out of the young core comprised of Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart:
“You have 4 guys in our top 8 rotation that you have to really rely on,” James said, “and it’s unfair to them to ask for so much when they’re in their second or third year… You can’t find one other team in our league right now that has to rely on that much every single night from their young guys that’s in their first or second year.”
The Lakers, losers of three straight, enter Wednesday's game against the Denver Nuggets five and a half games behind the San Antonio Spurs for eighth in the Western Conference. They're tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for 10th at 30-34, trailing the ninth-place Sacramento Kings by two and a half games.
Los Angeles, it bears reminding, committed to relying on its young players by limiting its free-agency acquisitions last summer to James and a slew of veterans playing on one-year deals. To no one's surprise, though, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee, and the since-traded Michael Beasley proved to be an awkward fit next to the ball-dominant James, who's accustomed to being surrounded by shooters. The varied struggles of Ingram, Ball, and even Kuzma and Hart beyond the arc have further complicated matters for the Lakers, too.
Still, this team has far bigger problems than a lack of 3-point shooting. And unless Los Angeles goes on a shocking late-season run, the coalescence of those issues – defense, depth, chemistry, injuries, and youth – will force James to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
