LeBron James: Lakers season is OVER, superstar doesn’t WANT title – NBA expert

That’s the surprise verdict of NBA analyst Rob Parker.

The Lakers take on the New Orleans Pelicans at Staples tonight (7.30pm PST/3.30am UK time) looking to move one game closer to .500.

Los Angeles have lost their last two games, against New Orleans on Saturday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night, to slip to 29-31 for the year.

Luke Walton’s team had been fourth in the Western Conference as of Christmas Day when they beat the Golden State Warriors on the road.

But a groin strain injury picked up by LeBron that night, which caused him to miss 18 of their next 19 games, and the drama of the Lakers’ attempts to trade for Pelicans big man Anthony Davis have seriously damaged the organisation’s season.

They have sunk all the way down to 11th in the West with 22 regular-season games remaining ahead of the third of their four meetings with New Orleans tonight.

The season series is tied at 1-1 but the Lakers desperately need a win to revive their playoff hopes, having slipped three games back on the eighth seed.

Yet Parker insists their hopes of making the post-season are already dead and that further, LeBron never even came to southern California to win a fourth career title.

Speaking on Fox Sports Radio’s The Odd Couple, Parker said: “The Lakers’ season is officially over. It’s over. 

“You keep waiting, the argument has been ‘They’ll be fine, LeBron’s [got a] track record.’ 

“But LeBron is a broken-down 34-year-old jalopy who can’t play defense. It was pathetic against Memphis. That was rock-bottom. 

“He stood there and had the nerve when [Mike] Conley drove past him for an easy lay-up to look and throw his hands up like, ‘Where’s the defense?’ 

“LeBron came here for Hollywood and all of the other stuff, the businesses and what not. He didn’t come here to win a championship. 

“He told you, ‘I have nothing to prove’. Do you remember that speech? ‘I don’t owe anybody jack.’ 

“LeBron came here without the pieces in place, without his No 2 guy, he’s never done that and that threw up a red flag to me. 

“I understand he had the young core but don’t now tell me [they’re not good enough], this is what you signed up for! You knew. 

“Teams aren’t afraid of LeBron or the Lakers. 

“There’s blood in the water and these teams are like, ‘We can beat them, LeBron or no LeBron.’ All these players are like, ‘Yes, we can bury LeBron.’”

source: express.co.uk