Things could not be getting any worse for the Los Angeles Lakers at the moment. They recently lost their fifth consecutive game of the season. And now their record stands at 0-5. If that wasn’t enough, Lakers star power forward Anthony Davis was ruled out due to back pain for their last game. It seems as if this might be another year riddled with injuries for LeBron James and co. And now, the Lakers head coach has some unorthodox plans going forward.
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The Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darwin Ham wants to play superstar LeBron James at the center position for the upcoming games. James who is 37 years old right now, will soon be turning 38 in December.
Fans worry the Lakers might be going in the wrong direction
And as good as he has been considering it’s his 20th season in the league, this move seems to be a bit of a stretch. During his prime, Lebron James was more than capable of defending all five positions on the court.
Even though James is still producing what can be said is the highest output of his game, playing him at the center position might not be the way to go. James is a small forward who often ends up playing the power forward position as well.
Over the years he has morphed his game into a point forward position, a combination of point guard and small forward. But listed at 6’8″, the move to ask LeBron James to defend against seven-footers in the game is being questioned by fans.
Fans are clearly not on board with this plan as they criticized the Los Angeles Lakers head coach’s plan. One fan tweeted, “Fire Darvin he tryna end LeBron’s career early.”
Here are more reactions from NBA Twitter:
Fire Darvin he tryna end LeBron’s career early
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) October 29, 2022
Oh god this team is in shambles right now
— Ashton (@ashtonchester4) October 29, 2022
he cant even defend 3s or 4s what makes u think he can defend 5s
— ali (@alij8h) October 29, 2022
Terrible idea he is way too old someone needs to tell Davis to just toughen up and play center he has all the physical tools to do so
— kian (@kian74490609) October 29, 2022
Lol but Vogel was the problem right?! 😂 he literally doing the same thing Vogel was forced to do with the roster. I don’t why they care about those picks so much, you either trade them or you suck. You don’t have much in between. This team sucks.
— Big Z (@Boardmanzay) October 29, 2022
An idiot. AD at the 5 barely works what would make him think LeBron at the 5 will work?
— CINCO (@cinco_5x) October 29, 2022
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History repeating itself as LeBron James might play the five for another season
As of now, it is unclear how many games Anthony Davis might miss out on due to back pain. And with the Lakers’ lack of a true center on the team, it seems as if head coach Darvin Ham has been forced to play his hand.
‘The King’ did play the center position last year for the team due to players missing out on games because of injuries. The move did help the Lakers on the offensive end, although it did cost them heavily on the defensive side of the floor.
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What do you think of Darvin Ham’s plan for LeBron James moving forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.