LeBron's body language is killing the Lakers

[CKRT]

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Full clip here with context. Someone on reddit already summarized it well:
"LeBron said before the series that Lakers would need to play near perfect ball to beat the Nuggets. Reporter here suggests that maybe that bar was set too high, and the pressure of having to play perfectly is leading to the team underperforming.

The "it's just basketball" line (which is just part of a much longer response) is basically LeBron suggesting that at the end of the day, they're professionals who should be devoted to the goal of playing near perfect ball and winning a championship. They shouldn't be letting the pressure hold them back from that because, at the end of the day it's just basketball."

[AmIWrongDude]

Lebron has always been a front runner, even going back to his early Cleveland days. It's just who he is.

The guy that came back down 3-1 in the Finals to beat a team 10x better than any team MJ beat is a front runner? Interesting

[Peregrine01]

I love Bron and think he's had the greatest career ever. But when he wins, it's "I'm the GOAT". But when he loses, it's "at the end of the day, basketball's just a game".

[Drakeem]

I think a lot of it is Lebron has been handed everything and has been handed gifts since grade school. He has never really had to work at anything or pay his dues. He was gifted genetics, gifted super teams and front offices that bent over backwards for him. That’s a big reason for his weak mentality. Never had to go college to pay his dues. No killer instinct whatsoever with the guy. Oh well. It happens with ALOT of guys. He had a great career but all things considered he should have done a lot more with all the gifts he was granted from genetics to players to supporting help. 4 titles for everhthing he has been handed? Not nearly good good enough

The man is quite literally in the conversation for greatest basketball player to ever exist and we're saying now he underachieved.

I probably still have Jordan at 1, but to make a comment like this is insane to me. Things could have went better or worse for his career at certain times, but to say that he should have done a lot more when he's accomplished an insane amount of things that no one else has done and broken some records that people didn't think possible is wild. Sports fans are interesting people.

[zero rings]

Lebron has always been a front runner, even going back to his early Cleveland days. It's just who he is.

The guy that came back down 3-1 in the Finals to beat a team 10x better than any team MJ beat is a front runner? Interesting

I’m talking about his demeanor more than his play. He has a bad habit of pouting and demoralizing his teammates when playing from behind.

Does Lebron shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head after every D’Lo miss help his team get back in the game? No. It’s self gratifying behavior that hurts his team.

[Marrrcuss]

Lebron has always been a front runner, even going back to his early Cleveland days. It's just who he is.

The guy that came back down 3-1 in the Finals to beat a team 10x better than any team MJ beat is a front runner? Interesting

I’m talking about his demeanor more than his play. He has a bad habit of pouting and demoralizing his teammates when playing from behind.

Does Lebron shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head after every D’Lo miss help his team get back in the game? No. It’s self gratifying behavior that hurts his team.

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

[Joao Saraiva]

I'm old enough to remember people saying he joked arround too much with his teammates in Cleveland. Now that he doesn't, it's somehow bad too.

Dude can't win with you guys. 21st season, 39 years old, playing against one of the all time greats in peak and prime (Jokic) on a team that is much better than the Lakers and you guys are nitpicking stuff from this guy to justify the losses?! Really?

[SweaterBae]

The reality is we as fans can’t really know who’s a good leader and who’s a bad leader.

So much of that happens behind closed doors. Going by things like body language is crazy. Different people respond good/bad to different types of leadership and we don’t know **** about these players.

Winning a lot gets equates to good leadership but that’s not how it works at all. You can be a terrible leader and still win everything.

We can see dudes quitting on hundreds of plays.

Now you have to ask yourself which one is the cause. You seem to think dudes are quitting on hundreds of plays... are they quitting because LeBron has bad body language or does LeBron have bad body language cuz dudes are quitting on hundreds of plays? I'm honestly not sure

LBJ is the dude I was talking about.

[SK21209]

Lebron doesn't have that killer instinct and competitive fire that the true greats of the game had.

Killer instinct and competitive fire, hmmm I seem to remember one time

[VanWest82]

The guy that came back down 3-1 in the Finals to beat a team 10x better than any team MJ beat is a front runner? Interesting

I’m talking about his demeanor more than his play. He has a bad habit of pouting and demoralizing his teammates when playing from behind.

Does Lebron shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head after every D’Lo miss help his team get back in the game? No. It’s self gratifying behavior that hurts his team.

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

Are you serious? He did it to the entire Cavs roster for all of Jan 2018.

[thebigbird]

I think a lot of it is Lebron has been handed everything and has been handed gifts since grade school. He has never really had to work at anything or pay his dues. He was gifted genetics, gifted super teams and front offices that bent over backwards for him. That’s a big reason for his weak mentality. Never had to go college to pay his dues. No killer instinct whatsoever with the guy. Oh well. It happens with ALOT of guys. He had a great career but all things considered he should have done a lot more with all the gifts he was granted from genetics to players to supporting help. 4 titles for everhthing he has been handed? Not nearly good good enough

This may be the worst take I’ve ever seen on this board.

[Marrrcuss]

I’m talking about his demeanor more than his play. He has a bad habit of pouting and demoralizing his teammates when playing from behind.

Does Lebron shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head after every D’Lo miss help his team get back in the game? No. It’s self gratifying behavior that hurts his team.

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

Are you serious? He did it to the entire Cavs roster for all of Jan 2015.

LOL, ill take your word for it as its April of 2024 now and it must have stuck with you.

[ChiTownHero1992]

OP how would you feel if DLo was your starting PG?
Zero points and Zero Defense, do you want LeBron to be smiling and Joking while having that Garbage player?

So is D-Lo trash or all-star level, you Lakers fans flip your take on him daily....just 2 months ago HIm+Reaves=Superstar in a trade, now apparently neither are worth anything according to Lakers fans on this board....

Let's face it, LeBron needs 7 all-stars on his team to do anything atleast thats what we hear EVERYTIME he gets to that "final year" same thing in CLE, MIA, CLE 2.0 and now LAL

[Slimjimzv]

I think a lot of it is Lebron has been handed everything and has been handed gifts since grade school. He has never really had to work at anything or pay his dues. He was gifted genetics, gifted super teams and front offices that bent over backwards for him. That’s a big reason for his weak mentality. Never had to go college to pay his dues. No killer instinct whatsoever with the guy. Oh well. It happens with ALOT of guys. He had a great career but all things considered he should have done a lot more with all the gifts he was granted from genetics to players to supporting help. 4 titles for everhthing he has been handed? Not nearly good good enough

This may be the worst take I’ve ever seen on this board.

I'm no Lakers fan, and definitely not a fan of Lebron, but I agree with you here. This take is off the charts. Lebron has an entire career of killer instincts. Maybe he's tired, maybe he's frustrated, maybe his team just isn't good enough, but to say Lebron didn't work to become the all time leading scorer, multiple time MVP, multiple time NBA champion, business owner, etc., etc., etc., is pretty disconnected from reality.

[CS707]

LeBron's influence over an organization looms so large that I don't think you can ever let him completely off the hook for things like poor coaches, quality teammates, etc. At the same time the idea that his body language is why these guys are getting outplayed by the world champs is a bridge too far. They just aren't good enough.

[VanWest82]

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

Are you serious? He did it to the entire Cavs roster for all of Jan 2018.

LOL, ill take your word for it as its April of 2024 now and it must have stuck with you.

Typo. Should have said 2018 not 2015. You'll note that as the month Lebron stopped trying to get half his team traded.

[zero rings]

I’m talking about his demeanor more than his play. He has a bad habit of pouting and demoralizing his teammates when playing from behind.

Does Lebron shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head after every D’Lo miss help his team get back in the game? No. It’s self gratifying behavior that hurts his team.

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

Are you serious? He did it to the entire Cavs roster for all of Jan 2015.

Not to mention the entire young core of the 2019 Lakers.

[alebaba]

I'm old enough to remember people saying he joked arround too much with his teammates in Cleveland. Now that he doesn't, it's somehow bad too.

Dude can't win with you guys. 21st season, 39 years old, playing against one of the all time greats in peak and prime (Jokic) on a team that is much better than the Lakers and you guys are nitpicking stuff from this guy to justify the losses?! Really?

Bro, he has done this for years

[VanWest82]

He's played for 20 years. I bet your list of guys hes done this to will be DLo, JR after the worst mistake of recent memory, and maybe Chalmers. Am i right?

Are you serious? He did it to the entire Cavs roster for all of Jan 2015.

Not to mention the entire young core of the 2019 Lakers.

Hard to know what was worse, the head shaking condemnation after misses or Ingram and Lonzo's names being out there in trade rumours every day because it was an open secret Lebron was trying to trade them for AD.

[AmIWrongDude]

Never knew we had so many body language experts in here. Impressive.