Lakers Fans Demand Trade to Get LeBron James Help After Triple-Double, Loss to Knicks

Fans are once again asking for the Los Angeles Lakers to get LeBron James some help.

James finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Monday's 114-109 loss to the New York Knicks but once again saw the team's role players sputter. While Anthony Davis (32 points, 14 rebounds) and Austin Reaves (20 points, seven assists) did their part, no other player scored in double figures as the rest of the roster pulled a disappearing act.

The frustration among Lakers faithful was palpable.

The Lakers have lost three of four games since winning the NBA In-Season Tournament, including a 14-point drubbing by the lowly San Antonio Spurs. They now sit 15-12 overall and would be the No. 8 seed if the regular season ended today.

While the Lakers reached the Western Conference Finals a year ago playing out of the Play-In Tournament, they do not want history to have to repeat itself. This is a team that came into the 2023-24 campaign with lofty championship goals and has not lived up to expectation.

"It's tough. For the whole month of December we've really been on the road," Davis told reporters. "Hotel to hotel, you start getting delusional a bit, forgetting what room you in and things like that. But it's the nature of the business. You gotta fight through it and find a way to get wins."

The Lakers played their previous five games away from Los Angeles before returning Monday night. While their distance traveled was not far—two of those games were in Las Vegas for the IST and others were relatively short flights to Texas for games against the Mavericks and Spurs—a two-week stretch with barely any home time can be exhausting.

That said, it's a reality of the NBA schedule and one every team has to navigate at some point. The Lakers simply aren't getting enough from their supporting cast at the moment and something will need to change if this team is going to be taken seriously as a contender.