The Season of Disillusionment for the Lakers of Lebron James

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Lucas Michel, France

It’s another defeat for the Lakers, this time against the New York Knicks last of the Eastern Conference. Even with a six points lead at 2 minutes from the buzzer, they still found a way to lose thanks to multiples individual faults. It’s their third consecutive loss and the 8th in 9 games. Lebron James sees the playoffs getting away from him, he who has participated every year since 2005. They are officially eliminated from the race for the playoffs, with 9 wins late from the 8th, the Los Angeles Clippers.

However, the start of the season was promising for the Lakers, 4th of the Western Conference before Christmas. Then came the injury of Lebron and the beginning of the nightmare. 6 wins for 11 losses and a big drop in the rankings for the Lakers without its star. The come back of The King makes the hope live a little, but then another drama started; the announcement of Antony Davis who wants to leave New Orleans Pelicans for another team. The Lakers direction jumped on the occasion and proposed to the Pelicans a ‘Big Pack’ with most of the promising young players of the team (Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, Ivica Zubac and Josh Hart). It was impossible to refuse such an offer, and yet they did refuse it.

The consequence of this refusal was terrible for the Lakers, with a team completely destroyed. Can we even talk about a ‘team’ at this point ? We have the impression that the players lost total trust to the franchise and Lebron. The best example is that game just after this drama, against the Pacers. A terrible humiliation, a defeat by 42 points the worst defeat in Lebron James career with a shameful performance of the Lakers. We could see on this occasion that something is broken in the collective. For some specialist, James is the one in fault for killing this team, with his will to want to control everything. 

So now the question is: Lebron James is he still the best player in the world? Some journalists, like Stephen A. Smith a journalist with easy criticism, think that it’s time to stop calling him that. Even if his stats are still really impressive, he can’t keep his team up like he did with Cleveland. After an appearance in every playoffs since 2005, it’s the first season that we will not see him since then. But after a chaotic season, the Lakers’s results are still better than last year, and the trade period this summer looks very interesting. We hope that next year will be a better year for the King and the “purple and gold”.

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New Season for the Los Angeles Lakers

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Adele Fadier, France

Can I tell you something? My interest in the Lakers team this year began because of  LeBron James.

This famous NBA player, who began is career in 2003, is a smart man on the ground and in his life. Everybody knows that he enters in the Lakers franchise for this 2018/2019 season. Obviously, this decision brings many questions and especially why has he chosen the Los Angeles Lakers ?

This new team is very young and maybe it’s the time to trust in these youth. The French football team was a good example during this FIFA World Cup. Like LeBron said, they’re “not on the Warrior’s level”. Despite this, they will work hard to progress with LeBron’s experience and confidence. But before that, we have to wait for the beginning of the NBA regular season, that will be the 18 October against the Portland Trail Blazers. At this moment we can see the team’s real level of the Lakers and what they can do on the ground. This team is like a white sheet with a new story to write.

Everybody talks a lot about LeBron James but, like when he was on the Cleveland team, he can’t do all the work alone. So now we’ll take a look at the rest of the team.

Indeed, to strengthen the King, the Lakers’ staff has searched some players with play making skills, speed, experience, motivation and high level of competitiveness. Let’s see the result. We have a team of 15 players. There are Lonzo Ball, the youth, and Rajon Rondo, the experience, as point guard. Lonzo Ball who suffered an operation of the knee last July. LeBron James even said that he was impressed by Lonzo’s form and vivacity in so little time after his operation. Is it a good sign to see Lonzo Ball as a headliner? In any case, it’s good news for the pro-Lonzo fans, conversely for the pro-Rondo team.

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Moreover, Los Angeles Lakers’ shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is like a new player coming into this season. He seems to be a pillar member of the team, alongside Lebron James, thanks to his impressive 3-point shooting and defense. Another shooting guard arrived in the Lakers team for this season, Lance Stephenson, who is really excited to play on this team but mainly with the King. Despite this enthusiasm, Stephenson has to improve his performances compared to his last season (28.9 % at 3-points with the Pacers last year). The last shooting guard for this new team is Josh Hart, who was a really good deal for the Lakers with Kyle Kuzma during the 2017 Draft. Josh Hart has really good statistics as a 3&D player, but he doesn’t want to stay at this place. So let us see what you can do, Boy.

Then Brandon Ingram, small forward in the Lakers since 2016, looks like he will be a team’s pillar for this season with LeBron James at power forward. Finally, JaVale McGee joined the Lakers as main center of the team. Indeed, the 30-year-old led the Warriors in true shooting percentage (64.1 percent), which was among the top-10 in the NBA last year among players that appeared in at least 60 games.

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So the new season means a new great team for The Lakers. Indeed, the Lakers’ staff put a lot of money this year in recruitment.

But, you know that a team also needs a good coach. And what coach? Luke Walton, a guy who played 10 season in the NBA, who won two NBA championships with the Lakers and won one with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach. This year is his third season with the Lakers team as head coach. The start will probably be difficult for Walton. In fact, he had to find a fine mix between youthfulness and experience. This team is really eclectic so it will be a real puzzle for Walton to compose the starting line-up.

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To finish how can we describe this team : crazy, versatile, promising, overvalued? In any case, they are intriguing on the basketball planet. Can’t wait to see their evolution and how they will mark this year.

I think that this new Lakers’ team will suprise us. I believe in this group, they can do great things and why not win the NBA championship this year?

You can find below a video about their first preseason game.