LeBron James was forced to watch an inordinate amount of playoff basketball from his couch last summer, when his Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated by the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference's first round. But the 37-year-old superstar will enter the offseason even earlier this year, and with a rare level of disappointment and humiliation.
In a season that started with championship promise, the Lakers were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday, in a 121-110 loss to the Suns at Footprint Center. Besieged by injuries to key players and inconsistent play on both ends of the court, Los Angeles is now a pitiful 31-48 overall, and it's just the second time since 2005 that James won't be involved in the postseason.
"If people want to compile a list and play the blame-game, you could do that for quite a while. This is a very simple equation overall, though," SI.com writer Howard Beck told the Reiter Than You show on Wednesday. "They didn't put together a good team. That's the front office -- Rob Pelinka and his staff, and to an extent, Jeanie Buss. Nobody thought this Russell Westbrook trade was a good idea, except for the Lakers...
"You don't have to do everything LeBron asks you to do... Pelinka absolutely could've and should've said, 'We're not doing Westbrook'... The Westbrook trade was a disaster for them, and everyone in the league kind of knew that the moment it happened... They don't have assets to use -- very few -- and Westbrook's going to be on the books for $47 million. They're in a real tough spot. I don't know how they're digging their way out of this for next season."
In spite of Los Angeles' on-court dysfunction and flawed roster management, James has still produced one of his greatest campaigns. In 56 games played, he's averaged a team-high 30.3 points -- his highest mark since the 2009-10 season -- with 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.3 steals across 37.2 minutes. But carrying this team was too tall of an order, as Anthony Davis missed time with an ankle injury and the newcomer in Westbrook hasn't meshed at all.
Los Angeles -- which sits in 11th place in the West standings and could drop as low as 12th -- ranks bottom-five in the NBA in average points allowed and bottom-10 in defensive rating. According to ESPN Stats, this is the first time that a James-led squad has ever been 16-plus games below the .500 mark. And before the regular season began in October, the Lakers were given the second-best odds to win the Finals and capture a league-record 18th title.
The entire NBA conversation between Beck and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
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