The Los Angeles Lakers won’t be missing the playoffs again, according to LeBron James.
With 23 games remaining after the All-Star break, the Lakers (27-32) sit in 13th place in the Western Conference standings, yet only two games out of the final play-in spot and 4.5 games back of the No. 6 seed.
“It’s 23 of the most important games of my career, for the regular season,” LeBron stated at the onset of his All-Star Game press conference in Salt Lake City. “That’s the type of mindset that I have, that I hope (my Lakers teammates) will have coming out the break.”
“I want to make a push to make the playoffs. I don’t want to see myself not being part of the postseason for two years straight. It’s just not part of my DNA,” he added, echoing his eye-opening quote from December that seemed to put pressure on the Lakers front office to improve the roster.
“We’re sitting up here talking about the (scoring) record and things of that nature, and that’s all cool, but I’m more passionate about trying to make the postseason and give ourselves a chance to compete for another Larry O’Brien Trophy. That’s just who I am. That’s what I’m cut from.”
Not surprisingly, LeBron believes the Lakers can make a run if they get into the dance.
“I’ve always been confident in any club that I’ve been on: once we got to the playoffs, that we can compete with anyone. And I feel no different now with the roster, the way we’re shaped up now, that if we can finish off this regular season on the right foot … If we can punch our ticket, we can compete versus anyone.”
The Lakers’ final showing before the break offered reasons for optimism. In LeBron’s first game with the team’s trade deadline additions — D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba — Los Angeles rolled to a 120-102 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, while LeBron had his lowest minute total (29) of 2022-23. LeBron said he “loved” how the Lakers played and wished they could have gotten a few more games before the break.
James — averaging 30 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 36.3 minutes in 45 games thus far into his 20th season — is nursing a wear-and-tear foot/ankle injury that will linger through the rest of the season. He said his priority is to be available to as many of those games as possible. (LeBron said he would have some fun in his record-setting 19th All-Star appearance but “wouldn’t go too crazy.”)
The Lakers likely have to win 15 of their final 23 games — at worst — to qualify for the play-in. They’ll resume their season on Thursday vs. the Golden State Warriors.
Source: https://clutchpoints.com
