LeBron James has seen just about everything in his illustrious career in the NBA, and the 40-year-old is hoping to add one more ring to his collection before retiring.
This season represents perhaps James’ best chance of winning another title because he’s got a superstar in Luka Doncic who can handle the offense on his own. For years, the Los Angeles Lakers have been trying to find ways to push James off the basketball and they found the perfect solution and successor in Doncic.
Doncic has looked more like the superstar Los Angeles had hoped they were trading for in recent weeks and he was on pace for another strong performance in the team’s rematch against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, Doncic was whistled for his second technical foul midway through the fourth quarter and the Lakers went on to lose.
James tried his best to carry the offense in Doncic’s absence, but it was clear L.A. didn’t have the firepower to compete with Oklahoma City. After the loss, James admitted the game seemed off following Doncic’s ejection, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It was a weird couple of minutes after that. Starting with the ejection. I don’t know why the ref was taking it personal. He had already gave Luka one and Luka knew that. Luka was going back and forth at that time with the fan who was sitting courtside, like Luka does. The fans get to talk shit, talk out of their mind, whatever the case may be, and Luka was going back and forth and the ref took it upon himself to think it was versus him or whatever the case may be. But then another T on Vando after a blocked shot. This game was just weird as hell after that moment.”
James clearly didn’t appreciate how the referees got so involved in a tight game, and ejecting Doncic certainly seemed like an overreaction. Doncic is known for barking at officials and getting himself into trouble, but on the play in question it definitely seemed like his comments were directed at a fan.
It’s tough for the Lakers to lose a winnable game like this one, but the team has no choice but to move forward and hope for a better officiated game against the Dallas Mavericks.
LeBron James happy to anchor Lakers defense
Since Luka Doncic came aboard, LeBron James hasn’t had to do much heavy lifting offensively. Instead, James has been spending more energy on the defensive end where he said he’s happy to anchor that unit for the Lakers.
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