Darrius Barron
Sports Editor
The Los Angeles Lakers have been a primetime NBA franchise since the inception of the NBA. Having won 16 titles across the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the NBA,
the Lakers have earned the reputation of one of the league’s most successful franchises; second only to the Boston Celtics, who have 17 championships.
Lately, the NBA world has grown a sense of doubt in the franchise’s ability to win another championship and tie their biggest rival in the Boston Celtics.
Since winning their last championship in 2010 with a team led by Kobe Bryant— who was arguably one of the greatest players in the NBA since Michael Jordan retired in 2003, the Lakers maintained a playoff spot for the following three seasons.
They suffered a loss in the first round of the western conference playoffs in 2013, the Lakers have been left out of NBA championship talks and neglected by NBA superstars.
Laker fans watched with broken hopes as top teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, and Golden State Warriors all compete at a high level for an NBA championship.
This past off season when Lebron James made his move to Los Angeles public, but even with having a new “King” in Los Angeles, the Lakers still struggle with collecting wins.
As the final two months of the 2018-19 regular season approaches, Lebron James and the Lakers sit at the 11thspot in the western conference seeding, leaving them 14 games behind the first seed Golden State Warriors, and tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves who are in the 10thseed.
Instead of the Golden State Warriors’ chances at another championship, or the Houston Rockets’ chances at dethroning Golden State; the biggest NBA concern now is whether or not Lebron’s NBA finals streak is over.
Ransford Offei, a JSU alumnus from Chicago, Ill., feels strongly about Lebron being able to lead the Lakers to the NBA finals and actually win.
“They can, but it will not be based off of Lebron’s leadership. They will have to put the right pieces in place. What fits perfect for the Lakers? Let’s be honest, he led one team to the finals by himself, and they got swept; and that team was the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers,” Offei said.
Since leading what was considered to be the worst team in the playoffs last season to the finals, Lebron was expected to lead the Lakers to yet another finals appearance, and hopefully another championship. At the start of the season, fans were excited, the players were excited, it seemed as if everyone was ready to become a unit and achieve success.
No one knows for sure where it all went wrong for the Lakers this season. No matter if he had a hand in it or not, lots of people fault Lebron James for the front office’s efforts to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans.
Trade packages for the 6’10, 253lb, all around superstar included much of the Lakers’ young talent pool and several critical draft picks. After toying with the Lakers’ front office for weeks, Pelicans’ front office staff ultimately declined all offers from the Lakers to acquire Davis.
Some NBA fans think that a better talent pool is needed in order for the Lebron to be successful during his time in Los Angeles.
Dontelius Ross, a senior interdisciplinary study major from Jackson, Miss., said: “right now, with the young players they have, I don’t think they can [win a championship].”
Fans are concerned that the chemistry that was once shared at the start if the season has evaporated. Now, veteran players like Michael Beasley and many others have reportedly gotten into an altercation with Lakers’ head coach, Luke Walton.
To no surprise, according to CBS Sports, there has even been a rift between Luke Walton and Lebron’s camp. Much like every other team Lebron has played for, there has been a problem between either Lebron and the coach, or Lebron’s camp and the coach.
Considering Lebron’s history with coaches, and the fact that other players have almost gotten physical with Luke Walton, this time may be different and Lebron maybe is not to blame. However, some people do not view the situation like that.
The Lakers have two months to make a playoff push in the most competitive conference in the NBA. Lebron has been known to make the seemingly impossible happen before, can he pull it off in Laker land?
To hear more about the NBA, you can tune into At the Whistle, a podcast hosted by the Blue & White Flash on YouTube. JSUBlueWhiteFlash is the YouTube channel, and ATW is the podcast name.
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