Pressure Mounts on Bronny James & 2 Lakers Rookies as Anthony Davis Hints at Major Locker Room Problem

“I challenged the team across the board today in our meeting about leadership,” said JJ Redick after the Lakers‘ clinical win over the Heat on Wednesday. The statement echoed across the Lakers nation and even dug out responses from the team’s senior players. Firstly, Anthony Davis, moments after Coach JJ’s take, hinted at the existing issue in the locker room. Following him, Rui Hachimura, the team’s trusted wing, dropped the hammer on the rookies last night.

The root of Redick’s statement traced back to the Lakers’ embarrassing blowout loss against the Heat back in early December. The team struggled defensively, leaving plenty of open looks to Tyler Herro, who ran down on the team with multiple 3s. However, on Wednesday, the team produced a comprehensive effort, and dominated the defensive end with “leadership”. In Redick’s dictionary, leadership meant “being vocal, talking in the huddles”.

Adding to JJ’s statement, Anthony Davis, speaking to reporters, stressed that his teammates should work on their leadership qualities and said, “Guys outside of me and Bron can lead and then got more than enough right to say what they have to say as well goes back being connected so I think everybody in the locker room just needed that.“ While AD’s statement seemed like a reluctant message addressed to teammates, Rui Hachimura fearlessly nailed it on the rookies.

Speaking to the press on Thursday’s practice, Rui said, “There are a lot of younger guys. Guys who just got here, first year whatever. It’s hard to, you know, makeup communication.” Clearly addressing the three rookies, he dropped stern advice, “Everybody got to be a leader and just got to be more vocal… You got to communicate whatever you see, you have to face it. Coach is not the one to plan basketball on the court… sometimes we a lot of stuff that the players can only see so we gotta kinda communicate better.” Is there a communication problem in the Lakers’ locker room?

Does Anthony Davis & Co. have a locker room rift?

The only rookie who actively plays in the Lakers’ rotation is Dalton Knecht, meanwhile Bronny James and Armel Traore haven’t made it to the mix. So, James Jr. and Traore don’t necessarily fall under Rui Hachimura’s criticism. Since the Japanese-American baller addressed the issue, saying, “Younger guys” and “First year” “ he could also be addressing the sophomores and recent trade-in like Shake Milton and Dorian Finney-Smith.

However, the bottom line is that there is a locker room issue. In the previous season, during the Darvin Ham era, several reports suggested that the team had a growing coach-player communication gap. While it seemed to have brought back with Redick’s inclusion, the team seemed to have a new issue.

Moreover, it could further get worse, considering the team’s upcoming trades. Following the exit of D’Angelo Russell, many rumors suggest that the team was actively looking to add a star ahead of the trade deadline. The most recent one was the big De’Aaron Fox trade replacing Austin Reaves. If it’s spreading across the locker room, then it will definitely leave the place unsettled.