LeBron James Clarifies Comments About Lakers Roster amid Trade Rumors
On Sunday, the Athletic's Sam Amick reported that LeBron James "made it clear that his patience is waning" during an interview regarding the Los Angeles Lakers' reluctance to trade future first-round picks to improve the roster amid a 19-21 start to the season.
"Y'all know what the f--k should be happening," James said. "I don't need to talk."
But the superstar forward quickly cleared a few things up regarding his comments:
The Lakers have somewhat righted the ship after a dreadful 2-10 start, which has included the team's current five-game winning streak. Any team with James and Anthony Davis will pose some semblance of a threat in the postseason, especially with LeBron still going strong at 38.
Getting into the playoffs is hardly a guarantee, however. The Lakers are 12th in the West and haven't exactly built a complementary roster around their superstar players. While Russell Westbrook has embraced a role off the bench and played well since making the change, his poor perimeter shooting and preference to be an on-ball guard still doesn't mesh well with James' skill set.
"They're doing what they feel is best for the franchise," James told Amick when asked about his patience level with president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss not pulling the trigger on any major moves to adjust the roster.
"Man, listen, I play the game," he added in the interview. "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."
The question is what this current team's ceiling might be. It's hard to imagine a team that started the season 2-10 or one that was under .500 in January going on to win a championship. There are enough clear roster holes and imperfect fits to suggest that the Lakers might struggle to even make the playoffs.
But given Westbrook's massive contract and the team's general lack of intriguing trade pieces, the only way to truly make improvements would be to dispense with either their 2027 first-rounder, 2029 first-rounder or both.
Thus far, the Lakers have balked at doing so. James is publicly insistent that he isn't growing impatient or pushing the team to make changes. But it's hard to imagine that he isn't acutely aware of the Lakers' roster limitations and how much that caps their upside.
