With the game over for the LA Lakers, the blame game has now come into play. Lakers’ championship aspirations shattered with an embarrassing playoff run, but who is to blame? Some believe that LeBron James failed to lead the team towards a better outcome. Meanwhile, some believe that the role players of the LA Lakers failed to provide adequate support to LeBron. It seems ex-NBA star Shaquille O’Neal is among the latter ones. “LeBron and AD have been playing exceptional… Now the others going to have to step up,” Shaq said on Inside the NBA, ahead of Lakers’ Game 5.

However, ex-NBA star Kwame Brown has expressed a different take on this and sided with people holding the King accountable for the Lakers’ plight. “The media has run a narrative to blame everybody else around this guy (LeBron James) that I don’t think he know how to accept responsibility for nothing. How the hell you blame role players and you pay a guy $200-$300 million? It ain’t the damn role players’ fault. It’s the guys with the money,” Brown said in a video posted on his YouTube channel ‘Kwame Brown Bust Life’.

He further emphasized that it was the 4x NBA champ himself who had handpicked these players. Brown finds it ironic that LeBron himself got the players, lost them, and somehow it still is not his fault. “And you got these little minions that just sit there and act like everybody else can get scrutiny but one person… You give Michael Jordan a guy as good as AD, you give Michael Jordan as good as somebody, Anthony Davis, and you can’t win with that,” he further said.

Are the Lakers’ role players really to blame for the team’s embarrassing ousting?  

The fact of the matter is LeBron and Davis were the only players from the Lakers consistent with their performance. No matter what, the 27.8 points per game in the series by the two players cannot be ignored. On the other hand, the other key players of the team, like D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves proved to be a major disappointment for the fans. Notably, Russell had shown some hope of a comeback after his 23 points in Game 2.

However, his 0 points in Game 3, despite a 24 minute time on the court, was something beyond the understanding of fans and experts alike. Ex-Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal had expressed his disappointment in the role players back then as well. “You can’t go 24 minutes and not have one point. D’Angelo Russell needs to step up… He (Russell) got the same points as me, you, and Chuck,” Shaq stated back then, appearing on ‘Inside the NBA‘. Now, it remains to be seen what lies next for the LA Lakers from hereon.