The Lakers tipped off their 2025-26 season with out LeBron James on the courtroom for the primary time, but it surely wasn’t simply his absence that drew consideration, it was his demeanor.
Throughout Tuesday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, cameras caught James on the bench wanting visibly disengaged.
When requested in regards to the state of affairs, Lakers insider Jovan Buha didn’t mince phrases.
“Yeah, I imply I don’t wanna play armchair psychologist right here, so I’m — I wanna chorus from an excessive amount of hypothesis,” he mentioned on his YouTube Channel. “However the vibes with that state of affairs haven’t been the very best, I’ll say. So, once more, I don’t actually wanna go an excessive amount of down that highway, however yeah, I imply, I assumed there have been occasions simply wanting on the huddle or wanting on the bench that he wasn’t as engaged as he sometimes is when he’s out.
“You simply by no means know what some — somebody’s having a nasty day or one thing’s going — no matter. You don’t wanna mission onto individuals what you suppose they’re feeling or appearing like. However simply within the observations I made from the physique language, was not nice, and I do suppose it was a bit totally different than what it has been prior to now on this similar state of affairs of him being out.”
The Lakers fell 119-109 to Golden State, regardless of an enormous efficiency from Luka Doncic, who posted 43 factors, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Head coach JJ Redick admitted the group felt the void left by their injured star.
“It’s onerous to neglect about LeBron,” Redick mentioned postgame. “The truth is whenever you’re centered on the group that you’ve, you gotta make that group work. I’ll be trustworthy with you, I did have one second in that first half after we had just a few possessions we couldn’t rating in opposition to the zone it’d be nice to have LeBron simply to throw it to within the excessive submit.”
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