LeBron, on Lakers’ roster plans: “Y’all know what the f*** should be happening!”
The Lakers forward spoke about roster management, the team’s mentality and how he sees the Lakers this season in an interview for The Athletic
The situation at the Lakers has improved in recent weeks, but it’s clear that more change is needed. LeBron James, the undisputed leader of the team at 38 years of age, gave an interview to The Athletic’s Sam Amick at the weekend.
During their chat, the Los Angeles forward spoke about the board and how the roster is being manageed for the season. “Y’all know what the f*** should be happening! I don’t need to talk,” James explained in the conversation.
“(The front office) does what’s best for the franchise, that’s not my job, they do what they think is best for the franchise,” he told Amick. “Man listen, I play the game. I worry about who’s in the locker room. I can’t — it’s not my … it’s not my job. I can’t do nobody else’s job,” he clarified.
On the possibility of reaching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s record to become the leading scorer in NBA history in the coming days (he is 422 points away), LeBron admitted that it was not something that was on his mind when he started out. “It wasn’t a goal of mine when I entered the league. I have always had one goal, and that is to win. The scoring record was never ever even thought of in my head because I’ve always been a pass-first guy. I’ve always loved the excitement of seeing the success of my team mates. I’ve always kept my eye on what we can become”, he continued. “I said early on (that) we were young. We were just a young team and we’re just now getting together. We don’t know who we are. We don’t know what our identity is. We had a fresh coaching staff, you know, (where) you’re implementing things at the start of the season.”.
“We had injuries here and injuries there, guys in and out, so it took a toll on us. I mean, we still (are) leading the league in most starting lineups — 21 starting lineups so far in less than 40 games, which is insane. But we’re just trying to figure out, trying to play for one another and not give in. We don’t really care what everybody else says about our ball club. … We just want to play the game,” he concluded in his chat with Sam Amick that has generated controversy and that, without wasting time, LeBron himself was quick to clarify his comments on social media.
It was the tone of his words that he disagreed with, as he pointed out on Twitter.
“Hey Sam actually my patience isn’t waning. You make it sound like I’m frustrated when I’m really not. I told you over and over, my job is focused on the guys in the locker room, my job isn’t the roster,” he explained. “I said what I said”, concluded the champion of four NBA championships (2012, 2013, 2016 and 2020). “Upmost respect and calmness cause that’s the mood I’m in! Your welcome! 5 game winning streak,” he posted in response to his own tweet.
The Lakers are on five consecutive victories, their best streak of the season, and little by little they are moving up in the Western conference, with the hope of continuing to play basketball from April and gaining a foothold in the playoffs.