The offseason moves by the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t quite worked out as well as they would have expected. Russell Westbrook is having one of his worst seasons to date and he has struggled to remain consistent. After an embarrassing loss to the Denver Nuggets, Lakers Legend Earvin Magic Johnson had something about the state of the team.
After being blown out by the Nuggets 133-96, we as @Lakers fans can accept being outplayed but we deserve more than a lack of effort and no sense of urgency. Owner @JeanieBuss, you deserve better.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 16, 2022
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After seeing the Lakers get outworked and outplayed, Magic let them have it on Twitter. He said that he sees a lack of effort and no sense of urgency and the owner, Jeanie Buss, and the fans deserve better from them. But Russ wasn’t having any of it when he was asked about this in the post-match conference.
When asked if he has a reaction to Magic Johnson’s tweet, he said, ” ah, I do not, I do not have a reaction. Um, everybody’s entitled in this world to their opinion. ”
"In order for us to win games we need to play harder. Simple as that." @russwest44 on the #Lakers struggles coming down to effort. pic.twitter.com/Hv6hagtbWk
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 16, 2022
“Um, and he’s not here every day. He’s not around us every day. He’s not aware of kind of what’s going on internally, um, with us and trying to figure things out.”
Russell Westbrook did not want to react to what Magic said, but he definitely let him know he wasn’t aware of what the Lakers are going through. The Lakers fell below the .500 mark after the defeat against the Nuggets. They will hope to find some kind of consistency as they approach the All-Star break.
The Struggles of Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers season has been far from spectacular. They started the season out slowly and quickly lost LeBron James to injury. Anthony Davis has been having a disappointing season, and he has been injured more often than not. LeBron James has been the only star who has stepped up every night. He is in his nineteenth season and he has been playing at an MVP level. He is second in the league in scoring and has the most 30 point games for any player.
But he has had no help from his teammates. Westbrook still has not figured out his fit and he leading the league in turnovers. Carmelo Anthony had a good start, but he has since slowed down. The other role players have had a few bright moments, but they have struggled with consistency. But perhaps the most worrying part for the Lakers is their lack of effort.
So many times this season, they have been simply outworked by other teams. They have also blown large leads and have lost to sub-par teams. Injures and Covid protocols have also been hard on them as they have had to make adjustments after adjustment.
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Fortunately for the Lakers, they still have a large chunk of the season remaining. Anthony Davis is expected to return soon and he will provide help to them with scoring and defense. They still have LeBron James, arguably the greatest player of all time. They will surely look shore things up and contend for the title as they begin the second half of their season.
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