Los Angeles Lakers talisman LeBron James has been mocked by fans after Frank Vogel’s men were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns. This series defeat came as a blot in a crystal clear career of Lebron. This was his first first round exit in the playoffs in his career till now.
The Lakers led by King James and Anthony Davis were confident to replicate the heroics of last season at the bubble in Orlando. However, despite all their tries, they fell way short of the Championship this season and that is mainly because of their persistent injury problems. Both LeBron and AD missed a horde of regular season matches due to health concerns and that led to the downfall of the Lakers big time this season.
LeBron missed a total of 27 games in the regular season and that resulted in the low ranking of the Lakers at the end of the regular season. Vogel’s men had to play the newly introduced play-in tournament to get into the playoffs. Had LeBron and AD been fit throughout the season then they had the supporting cast to finish within the top four seeds in the Western Conference.
Celtics legend and recent Hall of Famer, Kevin Garnett who noticed LeBron and the Lakers very closely was critical of the 36-year-old icon. He said in an interview, ” LeBron came to LA to not just leave out the league on a great note with a great establishment like the Lakers. But he wanted to play with a younger version of someone that he can actually, like similar to what DWade did to him in Miami. He came to AD in LA to continue the championship legacy, to continue the spirit. And right now he’s not doing that, he has to go to another level with his body, and his training whatever he’s been doing in the last 10 years is not working. He should not be out of shape during the regular season. I don’t understand that one.”
While a lot of things resulted in disappointment for the Lakers this season as they simply weren’t the same team as last season that went on to become Champions.
With age catching up, LeBron is not the player he once was but there is a single person who is ruling out his comeback next season.
