Are the Lakers falling apart, and if so, are LeBron James and his reps orchestrating the crackup in a plot to overthrow coach Luke Walton?
Those familiar questions re-emerged Saturday night after it was reported that Lakers players and Walton almost came to blows after a loss to the Warriors in Oakland. The narrative of Walton losing control of his team gained steam.
MORE: Pelicans may make counter-offer to Lakers
As uncertainty surrounds Lakers into deadline week, several veterans -- including Michael Beasley -- had an emotionally-charged verbal exchange with head coach Luke Walton postgame tonight, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium. It stopped short of turning physical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019
Then came the pushback, presumably from people with direct knowledge:
Source called what happened tonight: "way overhyped." Stuff like this happens in locker rooms often but Lakers are under ton of scrutiny right now. With vets on 1-year deals + young guys going through 1st trade deadline hearing their names, Lakers locker room can be tense lately https://t.co/bQ76vtfpSq
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 3, 2019
Texted a few folks about whatever it was that happened in Lakers lockeroom tonight. One described it as typical lockeroom stuff & said, “It never got close to getting out of control, people are always emotional after a loss.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 3, 2019
New story: Luke Walton challenged his players to not play selfishly after blowing a 2nd half lead in GSW. Beasley & McGee, in particular, took offense to it. A “heated” exchange ensued and quickly blew over. And time keeps on ticking to the trade deadline https://t.co/58NLVxVIl0
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 3, 2019
Also... doesn’t seem like @StephensonLance was really involved in whatever it was. In other words, go back to your Netflix
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 3, 2019
Spin cycle? Perhaps, but it got fingers pointing back at Team LeBron for the initial report.
Was King James' camp going back into its bag of tricks to take out Walton and not have it come back to its meal ticket? (See Miami and Cleveland Part Deux.)
LeBron doesn’t play —> Lakers lose a big game on national TV —> Guys confront Luke afterwards and it leaks —> The perception grows that Luke has lost the team but it’s not on LeBron because he didn’t play. This is all going according to plan.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) February 3, 2019
It sure does not feel like the Lakers are in charge of the Lakers.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) February 3, 2019
We'll need to wait for future episodes to get some real answers to the above questions. Maybe something will spill before the Feb. 7 trade deadline, or maybe it will spill after, especially if the Lakers fail to yank Anthony Davis from the Pelicans.
That's the same Anthony Davis who shares reps with LeBron and is now saying he wants out of NOLA.
