Heading into free agency, most expected LeBron James to either remain with the Cleveland Cavaliers or sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. There were also rumblings of James potentially mulling over the Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers.
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On paper, both of those two options presented James with a better path to contending for a championship. Particularly since the Lakers ultimately didn’t sign or trade for a second All-Star.
While James readily admits he is hardly the most patient person, he has preached an understanding there will be a learning process this season. Not only because of the number of new players on the roster but also the youth.
However, after the Lakers’ loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, James added a bit of a caveat to that, understandably explaining he expects there to be growth, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“We’ve got to get better, we know that. We talk about patience but we can’t have recurrence of the same thing. If you are doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result, that’s insanity. We have to get better. We can’t keep having the same mistakes over and over.”
When asked what type of leader he becomes once patience has been thrown by the wayside, James offered an ominous response:
“You probably don’t want to be around when my patience runs out. I’m serious.”
Monday’s loss to the Timberwolves was another game in which the Lakers were plagued by rebounding and defense. Minnesota pulled down 20 offensive rebounds and shot 30 free throws to the Lakers’ 15.
The Lakers did show an ability to close games out — doing so to hand the Denver Nuggets their first loss of the season — but they’ve now suffered back-to-back defeats because of the aforementioned issues on defense.