LeBron James Sends NBA Clear 3-Word Message After Rocky Start With Doncic

The Los Angeles Lakers have two of the best players in the history of the NBA on the same team, but the quality of the league and the difficulty of the schedule isn’t lost on LeBron James — even with Luka Doncic now literally on his side.

James and the Lakers have struggled since acquiring Doncic, who continues to ramp up after the longest injury absence of his career — approximately six weeks that encompassed his shocking and rather unceremonious end with the Dallas Mavericks and the start of his tenure in L.A.

Doncic has played in three games for the Lakers, two against the Utah Jazz and one against the Charlotte Hornets. Los Angeles is 1-2 over that stretch, despite hosting two of those contests at Crypto.com Arena. Doncic has averaged just under 15 points per night to go along with 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists, all figures well under his career averages.

A new system, new teammates, a new city, the emotional roller coaster of a shocking trade and injury recovery have all contributed to Doncic’s start, and all of those factors should ease in the coming weeks. But the Lakers’ have little breathing room to gel as the schedule soon heats up in a dangerous way.

Los Angeles bounced back Thursday night with a win over the Portland Trailblazers just 24 hours after the loss to Charlotte. Doncic sat out, as it was the second night of a back-to-back, while James led the Lakers to a road victory on the strength of 40 points.

However, James took to Instagram on Saturday, February 22, with a three-word message to the league about a six-game stretch over eight days the Lakers face in mid-March

GettyLeBron James, via Instagram.

“This is INSANE!!!!! 💀,” James captioned the post to his IG story.

NBA Has Built Losses Into Lakers’ Schedule via Game Frequency, Opponents

GettyLos Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

The Lakers’ opponents are relevant in that four of the six games are against the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2) as well as the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic (2).

Denver won the title two years ago, and Jokic has been MVP in three of the past four seasons; while the Bucks captured the championship four years ago, and Giannis is a two-time MVP still in the heart of his prime.

But it is the crammed nature of that stretch of schedule, which is bookended by back-to-backs on the road and at home against the Bucks and Nuggets, that is so onerous and thus the target of James’ ire. The two contests in between against the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs are also scheduled on back-to-back nights, with one day before and one day after serving s the Lakers’ only two off-nights in the week-plus-long run.

Not all back-to-backs are automatic defeats, but with three in a row in mid-March the league has built at least a loss or two into the Lakers’ schedule. Players are often more tired on the second night of back-to-back contests, while older and injury-prone stars tend to rest more frequently on those nights, leading to less positive on-court outcomes.

Lakers Face Unique Task of Navigating Long Season With LeBron James as Oldest Player in NBA

GettyLeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.

James turned 40 years old in December and is playing in his 22nd professional season. He is also nursing a foot/ankle injury that sidelined him during the All-Star Game (his 21st consecutive appearance).

It’s an issue that Ramona Shelburne of ESPN has reported will require monitoring on the part of the franchise for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs.

The league has had some issues with viewership, arguably in part because the season itself simply has too many games and because older players can’t play every night — at least not effectively — during crammed sections of the schedule. Those factors, and others, have led to a perceived lack of interest and effort from NBA benches, which has led to a perceived dip in product quality.

One could interpret James’ message as a sort of, “What the hell?” to the league office, as it continues efforts to make missing contests more punitive for players and teams alike. In other words, if the NBA wants a great product, it needs to recognize the limitations of its stars in the dog days of February and March after the All-Star break.