LeBron James recently had an interview with Allie Clifton of Spectrum Sportsnet to discuss his first season with the Lakers. James expressed his frustration with his body and only playing in 55 games.
This was the first time that LeBron James had missed a significant amount of time due to an injury. The time he missed cost the Lakers an opportunity to get one of the eight playoff spots in the Western Conference.
LeBron James and the Lakers were the fourth seed in the Western Conference on Christmas Day. The Lakers were on pace to win around 50-53 wins that would probably have had them as a top-five seed. But James’s injury slowed down the Lakers path to the playoffs along with injuries to Rondo, Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram. All these injuries hurt the Lakers season and cost them games that they should have won against some of the worst teams in the league like the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
James stated that he looked at a state of himself, Ball, Ingram, and Kuzma on the floor together and they were 15-8 with a defensive rating of 4th in the NBA and 7th in offensive rating. It clearly shows how if this team was healthy then they would be playing in the Playoffs this weekend.
Kobe Bryant recently recapped the Lakers season and told Laker Nation to be patient and trust the Front office and LeBron to get this team right come next season. The Anthony Davis trade rumors hurt the team for a stretch during the weeks leading to the trade deadline but after this summer the players that are on the team will be secure and ready to play and win.
LeBron James will have his longest offseason since his 2nd year in the NBA and he focuses on getting his body to “120 percent” as he goes into year 17. James has plenty of great basketball left and will no doubt have a much better season for the Lakers in year 2 of his 4 years, $153 million dollar contract.
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