LeBron James Quotes Charles Barkley After Put in Hot Seat About Unavailability for Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke about being "old" after a lackluster performance against the Phoenix Suns.

LeBron James Quotes Charles Barkley After Put in Hot Seat About Unavailability for Lakers

LeBron James (Left) and Charles Barkley (Right) (Image Credits - Firstsportz)

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a heavy 125-108 defeat to the Phoenix Suns at the Crypto.com Arena on Monday. It may have possibly been the worst performance of James’ career as the Lakers star managed to score only 10 points to go along with three dimes and no rebounds. A stat line never associated with someone like James.

The soon to be 41-year-old suffered from sciatica nerve issues in preseason that ruled him out for the first 14 games of the campaign. The Lakers led by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves held fort as they raced off to 10 wins during the absence of LeBron James. Since James’ return, the Lakers have gone 4-1, their lone loss being to the Suns on Monday.

The Lakers forward is averaging 15.2 points, four rebounds and 7.2 assists in an unprecedented 23rd season in the NBA. A record no one has achieved till date. The four-time champion is playing in a new role this season, where for the first time in his career he will not be the first option for his team.

The Lakers management have made it clear that this is Doncic’s team as they prepare themselves for the post-James era. After the loss, James spoke about his poor performance due to his age and the problems that come with it.

It’s called old.. You get it. You just wake up with sh** that you didn’t have the night before.

But it has still been a great start to the season for JJ Redick and his men as they currently sit at second place in the Western Conference standings with a 15-5 record, behind defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Charles Barkley on LeBron James’ future

There is no doubt that James is at the tail end of his illustrious career. While the goal is to be healthy and in top condition for the postseason, it is clear that his body cannot keep up with the wear and tear of a 82-game regular season.

Over a month ago, NBA Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley, appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and shared a few comments about James’ age and injury issues when the season got underway.

He’s just old. Everybody gets old. He says a sciatica, you know what that mean Dan, I know his back hurt. All old people’s back hurt. You can dress it up like a sciatica, you can come up with all these medical terms, LeBron is old.

The Lakers forward sat out on the first night of the back-to-back against the New Orleans Pelicans and put up arguably his worst ever performance on the second night which also ended the Lakers’ seven-match winning streak. Monday’s loss to the Suns marked his second-lowest total points + rebounds + assists of his career.

Luka Doncic takes blame for the loss

Luka Doncic has been on a rampage this season. The Lakers guard is leading the league in points per game so far at 35.3 along with 8.9 rebounds and 8.9 assists. The Slovenian has made a strong start to the season and is an early contender for league MVP as he looks to win it for the first time against the likes of three-time MVP, Nikola Jokic and reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic (Image credits – Los Angeles Times)

Doncic, who is now the leading man at the Lakers took responsibility for the loss against the Suns.

That was my fault. No way I can have nine turnovers in a game. I feel like it definitely was a different defense than other teams. Kind of trying to let me go score instead of creating for others. So, it was kind of confusing, but like I said, just can’t have it.

While Doncic scored a game-high 38 points and had 11 rebounds, he turned the ball over nine times, which was a career-high for the 26-year-old.

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