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    The Lakers Have Options to Win With LeBron James

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    The Lakers can get back to the N.B.A. finals, but with James’s career almost over, some of the team’s possible strategies may take too long.The day after the Los Angeles Lakers’ season ended in a sweep, General Manager Rob Pelinka told reporters that the team intended to “keep our core of young guys together.”This quote did not escape the notice of Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, whom the Lakers drafted in 2017.“Heard that before,” Kuzma wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, adding four crying emojis to the post.Kuzma spent his first N.B.A. season with the Lakers, playing alongside the lottery picks Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram, as well as a number of other young players who went on to play important roles on other teams.All of them were shipped out or let go in service of acquiring star players who the Lakers hoped could deliver immediate championships. In July 2019, after the Lakers had missed the playoffs, Kuzma survived the Anthony Davis trade, which sent Ball, Ingram and Josh Hart to the New Orleans Pelicans for Davis. The Lakers won a championship the next season. But a year later, after losing in the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers traded Kuzma to Washington as part of a deal for Russell Westbrook, hoping he could help them win their next championship.Anthony Davis helped the Lakers win a championship during his first season in Los Angeles, but the trade to acquire him cost the team several young players.Harry How/Getty ImagesHeading into this off-season, the Lakers are confronted with the question of whether they can or should be patient. On one hand, they were just swept in the Western Conference finals by a Denver team that showed how steady building can pay off. On the other hand, the Lakers are driven by LeBron James, 38, who wants to win now.It is a tension that will tug at the Lakers as they decide what’s next.“We’re incredibly proud of this group, obviously, to get to the Western Conference finals,” Pelinka said Tuesday at a season-ending news conference where he said the team’s goal was always to work toward a championship. “After the trade deadline we had one of the top records in the league. Keeping that continuity is going to be very important. We ultimately got knocked out by a team that has great continuity.”The Lakers have had a lot of turnover in recent years, but their performance this year showed that they might have a foundation on which to build. Darvin Ham, their first-year head coach, began to find rotations that worked, which helped the Lakers go from the worst record in the N.B.A. to the conference finals.“It’s just been a hell of a year,” Ham said. He mentioned having the support of Pelinka and the Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, then added: “To go through some of those tough times early, you know, we don’t get that support, we probably don’t make it to this point.”Their roster has promise. After the trade deadline, the Lakers competed well, though they had little time to jell. Guard Austin Reaves was a great fit beside James and Davis, and Rui Hachimura, acquired via trade in January, provided needed offensive bursts. Dennis Schröder was critical defensively. Lonnie Walker, Jarred Vanderbilt and D’Angelo Russell also had moments of success in the postseason. Walker, for example, saved the Lakers with a 15-point fourth quarter against Golden State in Game 4 of the second round.Guard Austin Reaves, left, and forward Rui Hachimura, right, are two of the most promising young players on the Lakers.Harry How/Getty ImagesThe Lakers were not built around youth this season, so it takes a little guessing to figure out what Pelinka means by the team’s “young core.” But Reaves is likely a key part of that.Reaves and Hachimura are restricted free agents this year; Russell, Walker and Schröder are unrestricted free agents.“We don’t know what team we have next year,” Davis said. “But whatever it is, whoever we have coming to training camp with the mind-set of building that chemistry, building that foundation, me and LeBron setting the tone, trying to get back here and further.”Because of the little time they have spent together, it’s hard to say how much further they could get.When James joined the Lakers as a free agent in 2018, some of his teammates were closer to his oldest son’s age than his. He said he knew being part of that team would require patience, and he said he was prepared to wait. But it quickly became clear he didn’t enjoy the interim.The Lakers missed the playoffs that 2018-19 season, in part because of serious injuries to James and Ball. Midway through the season, James began hinting that he wanted the Lakers to get Davis from the Pelicans. That summer, the Lakers completed the trade.“Yeah,” James told The Los Angeles Times when asked if he was glad he wouldn’t have to be patient anymore. “Because I was patient last year, and you see where it got me.”He showed a bit of that same impatience on Monday after the Nuggets clinched their series, saying he doesn’t “play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career.”James hinted at retirement after 20 seasons.James outscored everyone in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, even though he was the oldest player in the game. He had 40 points.Ashley Landis/Associated Press“We’ll see what happens going forward,” James said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”Later, he explicitly told ESPN and Bleacher Report that he was considering retiring.“LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone that’s ever played,” Pelinka said. “When you do that you earn a right to decide whether you’re going to give more.”Some saw James’s remarks as a sign that he was worn out from the past four months, when he gave a herculean effort to play through a torn tendon in his foot, or that perhaps his friend Carmelo Anthony announcing his retirement this week made him wonder if he should, too.It was also possible he was trying to pressure the Lakers to get him a roster that could win a championship next year — perhaps by finding a way to acquire his former teammate Kyrie Irving, a controversy-plagued point guard who attended Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, despite restrictive new salary cap rules. Irving is phenomenally talented, but he has struggled to make a difference on teams since he helped James win a championship in Cleveland in 2016.The Lakers aren’t as used to delayed gratification as most other teams. The wait between acquiring a major star to win and winning has not taken long when it has worked.The Lakers drafted Magic Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick in 1979 and won a championship his rookie season, then four more over the next decade.It took a few years longer for the payoff from their key signings in the summer of 1996 — Shaquille O’Neal (free agent) and Kobe Bryant (post-draft deal) — but they never missed the playoffs before winning three championships in a row.The Lakers owner Jeanie Buss stands next to a row of the team’s championship trophies. The Lakers have won 17 titles.Tracy Nguyen for The New York TimesThey added Pau Gasol to Bryant’s team in February 2008, lost in the N.B.A. finals four months later, then won back-to-back championships.And Davis, like Johnson, helped the Lakers win a championship right away. It was only James’s second year in Los Angeles.Conversely, the Nuggets have spent years constructing this team.They waited while their point guard Jamal Murray tackled the long recovery that comes with an anterior cruciate ligament tear. Murray’s injury came in April 2021, after the Nuggets had built a roster that seemed capable of winning a championship. His recovery has delayed that timeline.They could afford to wait since their top star, Nikola Jokic, is still in his 20s.The reward for their patience is a team that has looked serene in challenging moments, whose players mesh with each other completely. This season’s newcomers understood the culture right away.But James is 10 years older than Jokic, and that provides a unique challenge. No star has ever played as well as he has at his age. He may not be at his own peak, but he is still one of the best players in the game. The night Denver ended his season, he had 40 points — more than anyone on either team.James doesn’t want to wait, but quick fixes don’t always work; see the trade for Westbrook that sent Kuzma to Washington. The Lakers missed the playoffs in Westbrook’s first season, then traded him away this season for young players who helped but couldn’t win it all.Based on what the Lakers established this year, they would not be starting from scratch if they chose to stay on their current path. But it could take more time than James has left. More

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      Denver Nuggets Sweep Lakers to Head to NBA Finals

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      Denver dominated in the regular season but still had not been favored to make it to the championship round.LOS ANGELES — As the Denver Nuggets’ historic celebration began, LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers’ star forward, walked off his home court, his face expressionless.On Monday night, the Nuggets stamped out the final gasps from the Lakers, who had kept their season alive for weeks after it was presumed finished. Even after the final buzzer, some of Denver’s players looked as if they couldn’t believe the series was over and that they had actually done it.The Nuggets are going to the N.B.A. finals for the first time in franchise history after completing a four-game sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 win on Monday.Denver will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals, in which the Miami Heat have a 3-0 series lead over the Boston Celtics. Game 4 in the East is Tuesday in Miami.Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was named the most valuable player of the Western Conference finals. He smiled warmly as he held his trophy and his teammates surrounded him on the court and patted his head. He had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists on Monday.“Even when you guard him for one of the best possessions that you think you can guard him, he puts the ball behind his head Larry Bird style and shoots it 50 feet in the air and it goes in,” James said, then he smiled wryly. “Like he did four or five times this series.” He added, as he took off his hat and tipped it: “So you do like this to him.”Jokic, left, was averaging a triple-double in the postseason and had another one in Game 4, with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists.Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConDenver had not been to the N.B.A. finals in its 47 seasons in the league. Now the longest drought belongs to the Sacramento Kings, who have not been since 1951, when they were known as the Rochester Royals. The Pelicans, Timberwolves, Clippers, Grizzlies and Hornets have never been.“I’m really happy for the guys and for the organization and just how we fight through,” Jokic said. “I remember the days when nobody was in our — you could hear the ball bounce on the floor and there was no fans.”For the Nuggets, the win on Monday culminated a yearslong process in which their core players grew together, weathered challenging injuries and faced questions about their ability to even compete in the West. Jokic won the league’s M.V.P. Award twice, but could get to the conference finals only once.Denver lost the star guard Jamal Murray in April 2021, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said the day after the injury Murray tearfully asked if the Nuggets would trade him, calling himself “damaged goods.”“I hugged him,” Malone said. “I said: ‘Hell no, you’re ours. We love you. We’re going to help you get back, and you’re going to be a better player for it.’”Murray missed the rest of that season and all of 2021-22. In this year’s playoffs, Denver’s patience paid off.Jamal Murray averaged 35 points in the first three games on hallowed shooting splits, exceeding 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line.Allen Berezovsky/Getty ImagesMurray tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in April 2021 but returned to form this season, especially in the playoffs. He had 25 points and 5 assists Monday.Gary A. Vasquez/Usa Today Sports, via Reuters ConMurray began looking like the player he was before the injury and Jokic continued playing at an elite level, perfectly complemented by Denver’s cast of talented role players.The Nuggets rose to first in the West in December and never fell out of the top spot. In the playoffs, they beat the Timberwolves, 4-1, in the first round and the Phoenix Suns, 4-2 in the second round. Despite Denver’s dominance all season, oddsmakers did not favor them to win the championship. The Nuggets embraced that.“We’re the underdogs,” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “We don’t get enough credit for what we do.” He continued: “Not being talked about a lot, we take that personal. We just use that energy, continue to prove everybody wrong.”Even after the first two rounds, some thought the Lakers were dangerous enough to be the team that finally upended the Nuggets.That confidence in the Lakers had developed only during the playoffs.For a while, the Lakers seemed doomed because of roster issues and injuries to their stars, James and Anthony Davis. They began the season with a 2-10 record. In December, when the Nuggets were solidifying their spot atop the West, the Lakers were in 13th.Guard Russell Westbrook, who struggled with the Lakers last season, still wasn’t fitting in and was pulled from the starting lineup after three games. Davis injured his foot on Dec. 16 against the Nuggets and missed 20 games while he recovered. Not long after Davis returned, James missed several games with a foot injury that some doctors he consulted said would require surgery.But changes at the trading deadline in February helped. The Lakers shipped out Westbrook and brought in role players — Jarred Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley. They had also traded for Rui Hachimura in January.They rose to seventh in the West by the end of the regular season, and beat Minnesota in overtime in the play-in tournament to secure the seventh seed for the playoffs. In the first round, they quieted a boisterous Memphis team, which had spent most of the season in the top three in the West, beating them, 4-2. Then they upset the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 4-2, dominating them in the clinching game of the second round.The Lakers’ LeBron James and Denver’s Aaron Gordon were called for technical fouls in the first half of Game 4 after they got tangled up. James had 31 first-half points.Ashley Landis/Associated PressAll the while, Darvin Ham, their first-year head coach, reminded them how few people expected them to even make the playoffs.But the Nuggets turned out to be a different type of opponent. They were more cohesive, less dramatic and stronger at center than Memphis and Golden State.“We competed every night,” Ham said. “We competed every game in this series. I just told the guys to take stock of what this meant, what this feeling feels like right now, what we went through in an entire season and what we had to do to get to this point.”In the Lakers’ first two series, their opponents sniped at them verbally, whether it was Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks calling James, 38, old, or the Warriors accusing them of flopping for favorable calls. The Nuggets took a different approach, showing deference off the court until the very end.“I’m not going to say that I’m scared, but I’m worried,” Jokic said after Denver’s Game 3 win. “Because they have LeBron on the other side, and he is capable of doing everything.”James had looked more fallible in this series than he had in the past. He went 0 for 10 from 3-point range in the first two games, made costly mistakes late in Game 1 and drew ridicule for missing a dunk in Game 2. He had dragged the team through Davis’s postseason inconsistency so far, but the Nuggets wouldn’t let him do it again.Even when the Lakers’ Anthony Davis played well, he wasn’t the best big man on the court because of Jokic.Ashley Landis/Associated PressA few hours before Monday’s game, James was going through his pregame warm-up when a group of broadcast workers staged a rehearsal for the Western Conference championship trophy presentation on the court a few yards away. James said he used that as motivation.He scored 31 points in the first half, making all four of his first-quarter 3-point attempts.“It was scary,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We know who LeBron is.”James finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. On the game’s final play, James drove to the basket and tried to shoot a game-tying shot through a swarm of Nuggets. Murray was there, and as James gathered to shoot, Murray put both hands on the ball and didn’t let go.“I knew I had to be there,” Murray said.The clock expired and the Nuggets bench emptied in celebration.“It’s almost like shock a little bit,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. “You’re just, like, unsure, like, are you sure we don’t have more time on the clock? Are you sure we don’t have another quarter to play or another game to play? It’s just another chance at them winning? Then it’s like: ‘Oh. No. We won.’” More

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      Anthony Davis Leads Lakers Past Golden State

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      Only Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal previously had 30 points and 20 rebounds in a Lakers playoff game.SAN FRANCISCO — Anthony Davis sat next to LeBron James, watching as James heaped praise upon him.“The Lakers franchise over the years, over the course of their existence, has always had dominant big men, dominant guys that have been a force at the rim,” James said, after a dominant performance by Davis in the Lakers’ Game 1 win on Tuesday night in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors. “That’s why their jerseys are in the rafters. A.D. will be up there when he’s done playing.”James went on for another minute in the same vein. Once he finished, Davis patted him on the back.“I’ll take my watch next week,” James said, smiling at his joke about a quid pro quo. “Or a car.”This series is one that has stirred nostalgia for the years when James and Warriors guard Stephen Curry used to face off every June for the N.B.A. championship. But it could hinge on Davis, who has the potential to be the best player in the series. On Tuesday night, Davis showed just what his dominance can mean to the Lakers, as he pushed them to a 117-112 win on the road over the defending champion Warriors, wresting away home-court advantage.Curry finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists while two other Golden State guards, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole, also eclipsed 20 points.Davis finished the game with 30 points, 23 rebounds and 4 blocks. With at least 30 points and 20 rebounds, Davis joined elite company in Lakers playoff history: Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal. The most drastic statistical difference between the teams was a direct result of Davis’s play: The Lakers outscored the Warriors inside the paint by 54-28.“He’s everything for us,” Lakers guard Dennis Schroder said. “Defensively, offensively, big part for this organization. I mean, wasn’t an All-Star, wasn’t the defensive player of the year. He’s taking it serious, doing everything for us, and he’s the anchor.”That James and Curry were the narrative center of this series made sense. They are two of the best to have ever played in the N.B.A., and each has won four championships. They played against each other in the finals every year from 2015 to 2018, and each has won a championship since then as well — James in 2020 and Curry last season.This is the first time since 2018 that the two have faced each other in the playoffs, and there were plenty of moments Tuesday night when they commanded the stage.Before the game, the two shared a laugh at the scorer’s table. Midway through the second quarter, while Davis was shooting free throws, James wandered down the sideline with Curry, who was heading to the Golden State bench. James stayed by Curry’s side until he sat down, and even then continued talking to him.“He was just joking around about having to guard me all the way till I got to the bench,” Curry said.But at halftime, James was with Davis. The two of them walked off the court together, shoulder to shoulder, stride for stride.The scene was reminiscent of their first season together, the 2019-20 championship season, when Davis and James hardly went anywhere without each other and waited for each other to finish their on-court interviews after every game.The Lakers gave up a lot to acquire Davis the summer before that season, including players who would become critical pieces for other franchises, and Davis seemed to reward them right away. He was named first-team All-N.B.A. that year, as well as the All-Defensive first team. He was a candidate for defensive player of the year. He fit perfectly on James’s team.Part of what made that partnership work so seamlessly was the way their personalities meshed. Davis never needed to be the center of attention. James didn’t mind it, even thrived in it.“We’re not jealous of each other,” James said during the 2020 N.B.A. finals.That dynamic came into play on Tuesday night when James and Curry were the center of attention.Davis might not seek attention, but on the court he requires it, especially when he plays the way he did in Game 1.“We know that’s what he’s capable of,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s great. We needed every bit of all those points and rebounds and blocked shots, assists as well.”Despite 27 points from Stephen Curry, Golden State is down, one game to none.Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConThough Davis excelled at defending inside the paint, he made his presence felt all over the court. Late in the game, he thwarted the Warriors shortly after Curry tied the game with a heart-stopping 3-pointer with 1 minute 38 seconds remaining that capped a 14-0 run.Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell scored, getting the lead back for the Lakers. Moments later, Curry tried again, this time driving toward the basket, only to have his shot blocked by Davis. With 39.3 seconds left and the Lakers up by 3, Davis grabbed a rebound off a miss by Poole.Davis was aggressive offensively as well and seemed tireless despite playing 43 minutes 50 seconds, more than any other player. He played the entire second half.Ham credited the load management in which the Lakers had engaged earlier in the year for being able to play Davis big minutes in the playoffs.Davis’s critics have questioned his durability and his consistency, and not without reason. He has missed games because of injury in every year of his career and played in only 56 games this season.“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I don’t care what no one thinks. Only the guys in the locker room, coaching staff, only opinions that I care about. Other than that, I just go out and play basketball, do what I can do to help the team win.”Davis and James were two of the last remaining players on the court Tuesday night, Davis doing a postgame interview with TNT and James speaking with the Lakers’ regional broadcast channel. Davis briefly interrupted James’s interview to do a personalized handshake before leaving the court.“It’s going to be a different game,” Davis said, when asked about Game 2 on Thursday. “They’re going to make adjustments; we’re going to make adjustments.” He added: “I’m going to continue to be aggressive.” More

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      This Isn’t Who the Lakers Are Supposed to Be. Right?

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      The Lakers have long been seen as a glamour franchise of big names and big wins. LeBron James is dominating. But the wins have been much harder to come by, for a while.LOS ANGELES — LeBron James fidgeted as he answered questions after a second consecutive frustrating Lakers loss in which he thought the referees had missed a potential game-altering foul call.He was terse and dismissed a question about scoring his 38,000th career point in the N.B.A., something only he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have done. He was asked if he thought much about what the Lakers’ many losses in recent seasons meant to the franchise.“No,” James said. Then he turned and sped out of the locker room, into a rainy Los Angeles night.The gloom outside reflected the mood in the building.For decades, the Lakers defined themselves as one of the N.B.A.’s glamour franchises — a place the biggest stars went to play, win championships and achieve basketball immortality. Making the playoffs was an expectation, not an accomplishment.Then 10 years ago, two seismic events shook the franchise. On Feb. 18, 2013, Jerry Buss, who bought and revitalized the Lakers in 1979, died at age 80, leaving the franchise to a trust controlled by his six children, some of whom would wrestle for control of the team. Less than two months later, as he tried to drag the Lakers into the playoffs, Kobe Bryant tore an Achilles’ tendon, the first in a string of injuries that would spell the end of his 20-year career.Since then, the Lakers have gone through several discordant phases, from Bryant’s return and retirement to chaos in the executive ranks to a championship in 2020 that seemed proof of purple-and-gold exceptionalism, no matter the obstacles.But new obstacles have the Lakers once again facing the question of whether the excellence they spent decades building can return. For the second year in a row, James, 38, is having to produce herculean efforts to try to pull his injury-plagued team out of the bottom of the Western Conference standings.LeBron James is averaging nearly 30 points a game at the age of 38 as he tries to power the injured and struggling Lakers to the playoffs.Jae C. Hong/Associated Press“We’re going to figure this thing out,” said Lakers Coach Darvin Ham, the team’s fifth in the past 10 years. “We’ll definitely figure this thing out.”‘Kobe realized that he could not win’If success is measured by championships, the Lakers have still been one of the top teams in the N.B.A. during the past decade. They are one of the six teams to have won championships since the 2012-13 season.Broadening the measure to playoff or regular-season success, the Lakers become less impressive. With only two playoff appearances since the 2012-13 season, the Lakers are in the bottom third of the league. Only two teams have been to the playoffs fewer times in that span — the Knicks (once) and the Sacramento Kings (none).By contrast, between 1960-61, the team’s first season in Los Angeles after moving from Minnesota, and 2012-13, the Lakers had missed the playoffs just four times.Frank Vogel coached the Lakers to their only two recent playoff appearances, guiding them to the championship in 2020 then a first-round loss in 2021. The Lakers fired him in April after they missed the playoffs.Even though injuries and roster construction played major roles in the Lakers’ struggles in the 2021-22 season, Vogel became a casualty of heightened expectations with James on board. James’s arrival as a free agent in July 2018 marked the first time since Bryant retired two years earlier that the Lakers had a transcendent star.Bryant had spent his whole career with the Lakers and won five championships. So even after his Achilles’ tendon injury, the Lakers rewarded him with a two-year contract extension worth $48.5 million, giving him the highest salary in the league at the time. They were confident that he deserved it no matter what happened next.To announce Bryant’s return from injury in late 2013, the Lakers created a video with dramatic music and an image of his jersey being battered by weather until a lightning bolt finally tore it. The video closes with the jersey having been mended by unseen means and with the words: “The Legend Continues.”Bryant returned for six games in December, then fractured his knee and missed the rest of the 2013-14 season as the Lakers won just 27 games. He missed most of the next season as the team won only 21 games.“At some point, I think it’s obvious to everyone that Kobe realized that he could not win,” said Gary Vitti, who was the Lakers’ head athletic trainer for decades until Bryant retired. “And once he realized he couldn’t win, then a lot of the stress and the pressure sort of came off him and he really started having fun and being a lot happier around the game and his teammates.”Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020, spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers, though the final few seasons were rough. He scored 60 points in his final game in April 2016.Harry How/Getty ImagesOpposing fans feted him everywhere he went. They cheered the first shot he made, even if it took him a while to get there. Coach Byron Scott, a former Lakers guard, led the team during Bryant’s loss-filled farewell tour, a franchise-low 17-win season.“Losing — it’s horrible,” Vitti said. “But if you put it all in the context, if you’re Kobe, you know, basically Kobe could do whatever he wanted out there. Byron took over and kind of fell on his sword for the team. He said, let’s send Kobe out the way he wants to go.”Said Metta Sandiford-Artest, who played for the Lakers on their 2010 championship team and again from 2015-17: “At that point, you just wanted to make it comfortable for Kobe. That’s it. Nothing else really matters at that point.” He added: “He deserved it.”‘Pieces for the future’All the losing gave the Lakers enviable draft positioning.With picks earned by their records in the final few years of Bryant’s career, the Lakers drafted or acquired several promising young players, like Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr., Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac.Randle, Clarkson, Russell and Nance have said they learned from Bryant’s example. But his star power was such that they had to wait until he retired in April 2016 for the franchise to focus on their development.“It felt like a career-beginning training camp because it definitely was not the pieces at the time you needed to win,” Sandiford-Artest said. “There was more, you know, pieces for the future.”Those players would not be part of their future, except as trade chips to build the championship roster.In the gap between Bryant and James, Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner, overhauled the front office and thwarted a coup attempt by her older brothers as the team’s losses — and external criticism — mounted.In the summer of 2017, the Lakers signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who is represented by James’s agent and close friend, Rich Paul. That gave Paul an inside look at the organization a year before James became a free agent.Paul knew the situation wasn’t perfect, but few teams are. He advised James that signing with the Lakers could work, in part out of trust in Buss. James chose the Lakers and suddenly the drama of the past few seasons didn’t seem to matter.After missing the playoffs in James’s first season, when he dealt with a groin injury, the Lakers tried again. Magic Johnson, whom Buss had hired to run basketball operations and who had helped to recruit James, abruptly stepped down before the last game of the 2018-19 season. They traded several young players and draft picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for another Paul client: Anthony Davis. Rob Pelinka, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, said he consulted with James and Davis as he built the rest of the roster.The two stars were electrifying together. The rest of the team fit perfectly and charged through the coronavirus pandemic-interrupted season. When Bryant died suddenly in a helicopter crash in January 2020, James became the public face of the organization’s grief.Months later, James led the Lakers to the franchise’s 17th championship. Buss felt vindicated against those who had questioned her leadership.Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ controlling owner, has faced criticism as the team has struggled. She oversaw the franchise’s 17th championship run, in 2020.Tracy Nguyen for The New York TimesOnstage as the team celebrated the victory, James enveloped Buss in a long embrace. He told her they had accomplished what they set out to do.“I think the hug for that long a time was to really let it soak in,” Buss told the Los Angeles Times at the time. “He’s won several championships now, and he knows that those moments are to be cherished and to be recognized.”But it was only one championship. They would soon tumble from their pedestal.‘Things are going to get right’This season is Ham’s first season with the Lakers, and it began disastrously.The team lost its first five games, and 10 of its first 12. Ham benched Russell Westbrook in October after three starts. Westbrook had struggled in his first season in Los Angeles last year.James has been a bright spot. In his 20th season, he has been playing like he is still in his 20s. He’s had trouble enjoying the chase for Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record as losses and injuries have piled up this season.Ham has remained optimistic.“I get disappointed, but I don’t get discouraged or down on myself or the team,” he said in an interview. “Yeah, there’s moments in games we should have won, or different moments we should have played better, but at the end of the day working in the N.B.A. for one of the most, if not the most storied franchise, having a lot of great people I get to work with, great people I’m working for. It’s been fun.”The Lakers lack depth, but there is evidence lately that, with the right additions, they can contend for a championship if they have Davis, who had been playing like a candidate for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award before his foot injury in mid-December. The Lakers went on a five-game winning streak starting Dec. 30 and recently they nearly beat two contenders — the Mavericks and the 76ers.Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, left, has had a rocky tenure in Los Angeles, but has found success coming off the bench this year. Coach Darvin Ham, right, pulled Westbrook from the starting lineup after three games.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressThe trading deadline is Feb. 9, giving the Lakers until then to make a major move to get back on the championship track. But all of the trades of the last few years, particularly those for Davis and Westbrook, have left them with little flexibility and salary-cap space. They can’t trade any of their first-round picks until the 2027 selection, and have been reluctant to lose more draft assets.Ham said he has felt support from Pelinka and Buss, who signed Pelinka to a multiyear extension last year despite the team’s struggles. After a five-game road trip from Christmas to Jan. 2, Ham and Pelinka went to Buss’s office.“She gave me a big hug and told me: ‘Hang in there, you’re doing a phenomenal job and things are going to get right. We’re going to start winning consistently, but Darvin, we’re totally happy with what you’re doing and you and your staff are doing an excellent job,’” Ham said. “It was cool. It was really thoughtful.”Ham said the mood when he sees both Buss and Pelinka is light and full of smiles.“It’s not like a lack of an awareness, but just a gratefulness, a thankfulness to be in this together,” Ham said.He is being afforded patience, at least for now. More

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      NBA Christmas Day Games 2022: What to Know

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      The N.B.A. brings out its stars on Christmas. This year, there will be some new rivalries, too.The N.B.A. showcases its stars on Christmas Day, and this year there will be some big names to watch, like LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid.There will also be a new face in the mix (Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is playing on the holiday for the first time) and a familiar one missing (Golden State’s Stephen Curry is out injured).In each of the five games, there is something to look forward to, from young players trying to make their mark to older foes avenging playoff losses.Here’s what you need to know.All times are Eastern, and all games will air on ABC and ESPN. The statistics were current entering Friday night’s games.Philadelphia 76ers at Knicks, noonJames Harden missed several games for the Sixers with an injury, but he’s back and helping them stack up wins.Matt Slocum/Associated PressAfter rocky starts, these teams are finally clicking. The Knicks surged up the Eastern Conference standings on the strength of a recent winning streak, while Philadelphia was compiling a streak of its own.They met on Nov. 4, with the Knicks winning, but Philadelphia didn’t have its two best players: center Joel Embiid and guard James Harden. That makes Sunday’s game the teams’ first true matchup. The Knicks have played on Christmas more often than any other team, but this is the first time they will have Jalen Brunson, their big free-agent signing of the off-season.Brunson, a guard who spent his first four seasons in Dallas, leads the Knicks in assists and is the team’s second-best scorer, behind forward Julius Randle. For the first quarter of the season, the Knicks struggled to string together wins. But then December hit, and they found their stride.That’s when fortunes improved for the Sixers, too. Harden had missed more than a dozen games with a foot injury but returned this month to produce several impressive games with double-digit assist totals. The Knicks will, of course, have to watch out for Embiid as well. Last month, in a game against the Utah Jazz, he had this wild stat line: 59 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks.Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 2:30 p.m.Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is in his fifth N.B.A. season but has already been named to the All-Star team three times.Emil Lippe/Associated PressFans can seemingly always count on seeing the Lakers on Christmas — this is the 24th year in a row — but nothing else about the team has been that consistent.Even as LeBron James, who will turn 38 on Friday, continues to defy reason with his youthful play, minor injuries keep tugging him to the bench. Then there’s the major injury to center Anthony Davis, who is out indefinitely with a sore right foot. Other ailments have rippled through the roster, and the Lakers’ sub-.500 record reflects that. But it also reflects an aging team that got off to a terrible start (0-5) and hasn’t settled into a high-performing rhythm since then.All of that is to say: The Lakers have been a little bit all over the place.Dallas has been, too. Luka Doncic is playing and scoring more than last season, but the Mavericks are losing to bad teams right after beating good ones. The Lakers could fall into either category on Sunday. At the very least, it should be a fun game, with Doncic and James battling to see who can put on the best show. They are both capable of making even the earliest risers hold off on a midday nap.Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics, 5 p.m.Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to the N.B.A. finals last season and has followed that up with high-scoring play this season.David Butler II/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBoston’s Jayson Tatum has responded to his disappointing appearance in the N.B.A. finals last season in the best way: by playing better than ever before. He’s leading the league in minutes per game (37.2), and he’s putting them to good use, averaging a career-best 30.6 points per game by making about half of his shots.The Celtics will face a Bucks team with a not-so-shabby star of its own in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Last season ended in playoff disappointment for him, too, with Milwaukee falling to Boston in seven games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Sunday will be his first chance for a little revenge.The Bucks and the Celtics are jockeying for first place in the East, though they are fighting with different strengths. Boston has the league’s second-best offense, while Milwaukee has the third-best defense. The postseason is still a ways off, but it would be a surprise not to see one of these teams in the N.B.A. finals. Their Christmas matchup should help each team see what it needs to work on to make sure it’s the one playing for a title.Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State, 8 p.m.Ja Morant has made the Grizzlies one of the most exciting teams to watch in recent years. Brandon Dill/Associated PressNo one can argue that the Grizzlies haven’t earned this, their Christmas debut.Point guard Ja Morant is the speedy, soaring, confident heart of the team, but Memphis is more than its brightest star — and Morant would be the first to say so. He’s averaging a career-best 7.8 assists per game as he and his teammates keep the Grizzlies near the top of a tightly contested Western Conference.They finished last season as the No. 2 seed in the West and could have made a run to the conference finals if Golden State (and injuries) hadn’t gotten in their way in the second round. Sunday will be the teams’ first meeting since then.Both teams have dealt with their share of injuries this season, but Golden State has an especially big one: Stephen Curry has been out since he hurt his shoulder against Indiana on Dec. 14, and it’s not clear when he will return.Golden State is currently ranked in the bottom half of the West, but the intensity of last season’s playoff series with Memphis should carry over and make Sunday’s game a good contest nonetheless.Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.Denver’s Nikola Jokic won the Most Valuable Player Award the past two seasons.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe last game on a long day of basketball is easy to overlook. But Denver’s Nikola Jokic is sure to make at least one pass that will make staying up late worth it. That’s kind of his thing: One minute he has the ball, and then the next his teammate on the other side of the court does, and no one is quite sure how it happened. The Suns are a top-10 defensive team, but some things just can’t be stopped.Phoenix is also the league’s best on offense, which could be a challenge for the Nuggets, who are among the N.B.A.’s worst on defense. Suns guard Chris Paul is one of the best ever at getting the ball to his teammates. Paul led the league in assists last season, his fifth time doing so, and is averaging about nine per game this season.If this game’s late start isn’t a deal-breaker, it should be a nice chance to see some excellent passing and skilled shooters making good on the assist. More

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      The Lakers Can’t Make a 3-Pointer

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      Russell Westbrook is getting most of the heat, but the Lakers’ problem is its roster.LOS ANGELES — As Lakers guard Russell Westbrook went up for a 3-pointer against the Clippers, his home crowd groaned before the ball even left his hand. The shot clanked off the rim, justifying the fans’ apprehension.Westbrook missed all six of his 3-pointers in the game on Thursday. It was a microcosm of the two biggest issues facing the Lakers this season: Westbrook and shooting. Again and again on Thursday night, the Lakers faithful remained subdued as the team kept shooting. And missing. And shooting. And missing some more. There were enough bricks that the Lakers could offer themselves up as an infrastructure project.Through the first two games of the season, the Lakers have shot an almost unfathomable 19 for 85 from 3-point range (22.4 percent). That was the biggest factor in a blowout loss to Golden State in the season opener on Tuesday and in a 103-97 loss to the Clippers on Thursday night.In a league where deep shots have evolved from being quirky additions to being the driving force of contemporary scoring, the Lakers constructed their roster without enough players equipped to maximize that style of play. This summer, the Lakers let more formidable shooters like Wayne Ellington and Malik Monk walk, and instead opted to bring in the athletic guard Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Schröder, neither of whom is known for perimeter prowess.It’s not that the Lakers are in a shooting slump. If someone put tap dancing shoes on a flamingo, one would not say the flamingo was struggling to be Fred Astaire. It’s that — as LeBron James factually noted after Tuesday night’s drubbing by Golden State — the Lakers just don’t have many good shooters. They weren’t built for this.LeBron James had 20 points on Thursday, but, like everyone else, he was cold from outside. He was just 2 of 8 from 3.Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press“We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks,” James said. “To be completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting. That’s just the truth of the matter. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.”And yet the Lakers have launched a bevy of 3s. The penetration skills of Anthony Davis and James have generated open looks outside for other Lakers, but both Golden State and the Clippers also continuously dared the Lakers to shoot.“They want to give us those shots?” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said Thursday. “We will accept it wholeheartedly. That’s the way we want to play. We want to play fast, physical and free.”He added: “We see these guys making shots in practice and shootaround. They’ve got to do it on game floor. It’s as simple as that.”The Lakers climbed back from multiple deficits on Thursday to keep the game close down the stretch. But they weren’t able to sustain their periods of strong play. After the game, James was asked about his “laser” comments.“I love the way we’re playing basketball right now,” James said. “We’re really sharing the ball offensively. We’re moving bodies. And I think we will begin to knock down shots.”James does have good reason for optimism, but it has to do with the other side of the ball. In the loss to Golden State, the Lakers had a defensive rating of 107.0, which would have been good for fourth in the N.B.A. last season, a fact that guard Patrick Beverley pointed out after the Thursday morning shootaround. The Lakers were even better on Thursday with a rating of 100.0. When the Lakers fell into deficits against the Clippers, they turned up the defensive intensity and forced several turnovers to get out in transition to get back in the game.“I’m definitely not going to sit here and harp on what we can’t do every single game,” James said. “That’s not leadership. What I know we can do: We can defend our ass off.”The Clippers turned the ball over 22 times Thursday, contributing to some of the Lakers’ 15 fast-break points. This is where Westbrook’s skills can be useful to the Lakers. He had five steals Thursday, and as he is known to do, immediately focused on pushing the ball down the floor off those forced turnovers.Anthony Davis had a scary fall against the Clippers, but he returned to the game and led all scorers with 25 points. He was 2 of 4 from 3.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressBut Westbrook remains a lightning rod for criticism, at times unfairly. He missed all 11 of his shots against the Clippers, much to the chagrin of the crowd. But through another lens, Westbrook played the exact type of game that the Lakers need from him.“We’ve all had bad shooting nights,” James said. “I’ve had bad shooting nights. Everybody in this league has had bad shooting nights. Who cares? I thought he played a great game. Defensively, he was in tune. He was locked in. He pushed the tempo. He just didn’t make any shots. That’s OK.”A key criticism of Westbrook last season was his penchant for turnovers and for playing out of control. He had only one turnover on Thursday while quarterbacking the offense. Westbrook has also been bashed for his shot selection. He has, so far, focused on taking fewer shots of higher quality. Almost all of his 11 shots on Thursday were strong looks.Westbrook is not the issue for the Lakers; that would be roster construction. But if the 33-year-old Westbrook cannot be at least a passable shooter, defenders won’t have to pay him much attention, leaving James and Davis with less room to operate. And if the Lakers want someone other than Westbrook to be their starting point guard, there aren’t many better options on the bench. (And Westbrook has grumbled about coming off the bench.)The Lakers and Westbrook are, for now, stuck with each other. However, Westbrook’s frenetic energy could be a boost for a team suddenly reliant on fast-break points to counter its bad shootingThe Lakers are a work in progress, and while the team lacks shooters, the 3-point shooting percentage will almost surely increase from the low 20s. That improvement, combined with their defensive effort, left Ham upbeat despite the difficult start to the season.“The way we stepped out there and scrapped, even when we did get down, to be able to get back in the game, make it a game, that’s the definition of identity building,” Ham said.He added: “I’ll sleep well. I won’t be angry or depressed. And we still have 80 games left, but we’re trending in the right direction.” More

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      Why Draymond Green May Soon Be the Odd Man Out at Golden State

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      The shadow of Green’s punch looms over the team, even as Golden State shows it still has what it takes to compete for a championship.SAN FRANCISCO — As Golden State posed in front of a banner destined for its arena’s rafters, all looked fine and well for the team. The players were beaming and dancing, flashing their new championship rings toward a photographer.The Tuesday evening scene was a déjà vu of sorts. Golden State has gone through this pomp and circumstance four times in the last eight seasons as part of a ceremony to celebrate winning an N.B.A. title by raising a championship banner. Tribute video. Inspirational music. Cheering fans.“I’ve never had a bad ring night,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said. “They’re all awesome.”Just ignore the reality show that aired on TNT hours earlier starring and produced by Golden State’s Draymond Green, who in the show briefly addressed punching his younger teammate Jordan Poole in the face in an incident that threatened to rupture the franchise on the doorstep of the season.Oh, that. Awkward.Golden State began its pursuit of a fifth championship for its current dynasty by dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-109, on Tuesday, easily dispatching a team with no shortage of its own drama and championship aspirations. Golden State’s Stephen Curry, the most valuable player of last season’s finals, effortlessly dropped 33 points. But his team began the season under the shadow of Green’s swing at Poole at a practice, a video of which was obtained by TMZ.Golden State’s Jordan Poole, right, had 12 points and 7 assists off the bench in Tuesday night’s win against the Lakers.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockAnd in part because of Green, the Golden State dynasty — at least as the world has known it — faces the potential of great upheaval.Golden State has long been defined by the greatness of Curry. But it has also been marked by a rare continuity. This is Kerr’s ninth season as head coach, the third-longest tenure behind that of San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra. Green, Curry and Klay Thompson have played together for more than a decade. Bob Myers, the team president, has been with the franchise since 2011.Green’s value to the team is undoubtable: He can defend all five positions at an elite level, and he is an excellent passer, particularly adept at finding Curry in the right spots. He had 5 assists Tuesday to go with 4 points and 5 rebounds.At 32, he has also been known as a leader on and off the floor. Younger players like Moses Moody, James Wiseman and, at one point, Poole have spoken about the encouragement they received from Green when they were struggling on the court.Without Green, there is no Golden State dynasty.He has spent his whole career in Golden State and has a player option after this year worth roughly $27.5 million. Green is a four-time All-Star who, according to The Athletic, believes he’s deserving of a maximum contract extension. And in many situations, this would be a no-brainer, both as a reward for his past service to Golden State and in recognition of his current abilities.But his role as a leader is in question after what happened with Poole this month. He has a reputation for impulsive behavior like the Poole incident, yelling at coaches and teammates, and racking up silly technicals. One wonders if Myers and Joe Lacob, the team’s owner, may look at Green entering the twilight of his career and wish him the best playing somewhere else.Golden State has long been defined by Stephen Curry’s greatness. He had 33 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists Tuesday.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesThey have locked in the 23-year-old Poole for years to come, recently signing him to a four-year extension worth up to $140 million, according to ESPN.Poole was diplomatic Tuesday when asked whether the rift with Green had healed.“It was ring night and that’s really what we were focused on,” Poole said. “Finishing the first game. Huge win against a really good team.”Golden State also recently signed forward Andrew Wiggins, 27, to a pricey extension after he proved crucial to the team’s finals win last year and cemented himself as a building block for the team’s future. Not signed to an extension so far: Green.Golden State may be liable for almost $500 million in salaries and luxury tax next year. To put that in perspective, the minimum team salary for this season is about $111 million. Lacob has been willing to spend more than any other team in the N.B.A. to keep the team’s core together, but from a cold business perspective, Green soon may be the odd man out.Golden State has cited the organization’s strong culture as a reason for its success. But professional sports have long been a haven where bad behavior is overlooked for players who contribute to wins, which perhaps explains why Golden State chose to fine but not suspend Green for the punch.That is, however, a short-term solution to keep the peace. And Green, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016-17, certainly contributes to wins. On Tuesday, his ball-hawking skills made life difficult for Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ star big man, and offensively, Green flashed his versatility.But the shadow of his punch still looms.Green, in publicly apologizing for the incident on Oct. 8, told reporters that the he regretted the embarrassment his punch caused Poole and his family. Yet he chose to air the video again Tuesday in a self-serving “all-access” show called “The Countdown” on TNT, which also broadcast Golden State’s game. He turned the incident into profit and a glossily produced opportunity for image rehabilitation. He addressed the Poole incident by saying that he hadn’t paid much attention to the social media backlash. He also tried to use the show to reassert himself as a leader of the team.“You can’t change the events that happened, but we can control what happens moving forward and that’s where we are,” Green said straight into the camera during the segment. “And myself as a leader of this team, it’s on me to make sure we’re headed that way.”Golden State’s Andre Iguodala, left, Curry, Green and Klay Thompson have won four championships together.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesWhatever becomes of Green, Golden State is strongly positioned for the future. Aside from Poole and Wiggins, young talents with like Wiseman, Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are waiting in the wings for more playing time (and their own contract extensions) without the drama that Green brings.That Golden State faces upheaval is not the same thing as Golden State facing an end. This isn’t the first time that the team’s run has seemed seriously threatened. As a result of injuries, Golden State was among the worst teams in the league the two seasons before last year, which left many wondering if they could recapture their greatness. That didn’t escape Curry.“I heard it back in 2019,” Curry told The Mercury News in an interview published Tuesday. “I heard during the pandemic. We hear it a little louder now because we won again. We would have heard it louder had we not won. Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen.”As Tuesday night showed, the team is positioned for another ring chase. Poole and Green showed they can coexist on the court: Poole slipped Green a slick pass in the second quarter for an easy layup. But if Golden State hosts another banner-raising ceremony next fall, it may be the last one featuring Green. More

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      What to Know About the New NBA Season

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      Much of the conversation around the league the past few months hasn’t been about basketball.The N.B.A. will begin a new season Tuesday under a cloud of scandals and drama that has distracted from the basketball and that has challenged the progressive image the league has long cultivated.“I think right now the best thing that can happen is the season start on the court,” said Chris Mullin, a Hall of Fame former player.Last season’s finals teams — Golden State and Boston — are navigating internal crises. Two teams in top media markets — the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers — are trying to integrate their stars.And a situation in Phoenix has brought the league’s leaders and image under scrutiny. The majority owner of the Suns and the W.N.B.A.’s Mercury, Robert Sarver, was found to have used racial slurs and engaged in sexist behavior over many years, but the league’s punishment — a $10 million fine and one-year suspension — was immediately criticized by players and fans as being too light. Soon, under public pressure, Sarver said he would sell the teams.Though there are still many things for fans to be excited about, such as a new rule to speed up games and the improved health of some injured stars, several issues are lingering as the season gets underway.Here’s what you need to know:How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Suns owner Robert Sarver’s misconduct casts a shadow.Celtics Coach Ime Udoka’s suspension is a mystery.The trade rumors of the summer aren’t over yet.A new rule and stars’ returns could up the excitement.How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Golden State’s Jordan Poole, left, and Draymond Green, right, played together Friday for the first time since an altercation during practice this month.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressAfter defeating the Celtics in six games to the win the N.B.A. championship in June, Golden State looked poised for a strong campaign in pursuit of a repeat. Then TMZ posted a video of forward Draymond Green punching his teammate Jordan Poole during a practice this month.“I don’t think anyone could watch that and not say that it’s upsetting,” said Mullin, who spent most of his 16-year career with Golden State and is now a broadcaster for the team. “It’s unacceptable behavior.”After Green was fined and agreed to stay away from the team for about a week, Golden State welcomed him back and publicly put on a “Nothing To See Here” face. Green apologized privately and publicly, and Poole said Sunday that they would coexist professionally.What to Know: Robert Sarver Misconduct CaseCard 1 of 7A suspension and a fine. More

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      Not Even LeBron James Could Save the Lakers

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      The team that was built to be unbeatable just kept losing.On Jan. 25, the Los Angeles Lakers went to Brooklyn to face the Nets and displayed a joyfulness that was unusual for them this season.Their top stars LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook were all healthy — one of only 21 times this season that happened. It was Davis’s first game back from a knee injury. It was James’s only appearance in New York City. He had been suspended for the team’s November visit to Madison Square Garden, his favorite place to play.On back-to-back Nets possessions, James stole the ball and raced the other way as the crowd murmured in anticipation. They erupted into cheers each time James dunked.After the second one, James grinned. He laughed with Michael Strahan, the former N.F.L. star, who was sitting courtside, and jogged back to the Lakers’ bench still smiling.“The more minutes that we log, we continue to see how dynamic we can be,” James said after that game.The Lakers were in eighth place in the Western Conference, and the night offered hope. At the time it felt inconceivable that a team built to be an unbeatable superteam might get stuck in the play-in tournament, but the Lakers had plenty of time to rise in the standings. Many assumed they could still be dangerous in any playoff situation.Back then, few expected what would actually happen.The Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention by the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, even though James had the second-highest point average of his 19-year career this season. On Friday, James was ruled out for the final two games of the season because of a lingering ankle injury that had already kept him out of the three previous games. The Lakers are likely to finish 11th in the Western Conference, a spectacular failure for a team that expected to compete for a championship this season.This season was challenging for many teams, as the N.B.A. attempted a return to normal with the coronavirus pandemic still happening and with high-profile injuries afflicting many teams. But no team in the league will finish the season with as large a chasm between expectations and reality as the Lakers did.“It’s obviously disappointing on many levels,” Westbrook said. “But there ain’t much you can do about it at this point.”Westbrook was introduced with superstar fanfare in August, as Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ president of basketball operations, declared that he gave them a chance to win the franchise’s 18th championship. But his arrival didn’t come without questions.Russell Westbrook was booed and jeered, both at home and on the road, because of his shooting struggles.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesHow, for example, would a player who needs the ball in his hands to be productive fit with James, one of the best offensive facilitators ever? Was it wise for the Lakers to get older — by signing a slew of over-30 veterans — when they had already been plagued by health issues that often come with age?Preseasons don’t always foretell the regular season, but the Lakers went winless in theirs.When they stumbled at the start of the season, there was an easy way for the team to explain their situation: It happens. Superstars don’t always jell right away.The pandemic offered an excuse — it made continuity nearly impossible for any team in the first few months of the season.Pandemic disruptions reached their apex during the Omicron wave in November and December, during which dozens of players entered the league’s health and safety protocols.The N.B.A.’s testing system wasn’t perfect and James suffered because of it — he flew home from Sacramento on a quarantine plane because of a false-positive coronavirus test result before a game against the Kings. It was the 12th game out of the Lakers’ first 23 that James had missed.A few weeks later, a coronavirus outbreak spread through the team, even sidelining Lakers Coach Frank Vogel for six games.Many teams, though, were hit even harder than the Lakers, including the Chicago Bulls, who had 10 players in health and safety protocols at once in December, and had to postpone two games.Injuries offered another explanation for the Lakers’ stumbles. James and Davis missed more than 60 games combined — not an unexpected outcome, given their recent histories. Davis said he was “disappointed that we haven’t had a chance to have a full team.”“Not sure how good we could have been,” he said. “With myself personally, two unfortunate injuries that kept me out for a while. That just came to be part of the season. As one of the leaders on the team, especially on the defensive end of the floor where guys need me to be out there, sucks for me, sucks for our team, our organization.”But this season, injuries throttled many teams.The Miami Heat lost Jimmy Butler for nearly a month. The Phoenix Suns lost Chris Paul for a month. The Los Angeles Clippers spent all season without Kawhi Leonard and lost their other star, Paul George, for three months.While those teams found ways to adapt and keep themselves in the playoff conversation anyway, the Lakers couldn’t.James and Anthony Davis (3) missed more than 60 games combined because of injuries this season.Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThis was in part owing to a roster that was thinner than it should have been because of the resources dedicated to Westbrook.To acquire Westbrook, the Lakers traded away young role players in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma. They declined to re-sign Alex Caruso, who went on to be an important defensive piece for the Bulls.The Lakers’ defense was among the bottom third in the N.B.A. this season, as they have given up 112.8 points for every 100 possessions. The only team that has given up more fast-break points per game is Houston.The Lakers also struggled to defend inside the paint, a symptom of their complicated big-man rotation.During their championship season two years ago, the Lakers used JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard as their primary centers, occasionally asking Davis and James to fill the role. This season they brought back Howard, two years older and less effective. They signed DeAndre Jordan, 33, who proved past his prime as well.They didn’t have the assets at the trade deadline to make a move that didn’t hamstring them further. Westbrook’s contract will become more attractive to other teams next year when he is on its last year, assuming he picks up his player option for the 2022-23 season.As clear as it was that the Lakers’ roster was not working, it was even more clear that a fix would not come soon.They were losing to the league’s bottom-dwelling teams. The best teams were beating up on them, too. Young playoff teams like the Grizzlies and Timberwolves were mocking them, with Westbrook’s poor shooting a regular target.“This was the season that we just didn’t get it done,” Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony said. “We had the tools. Some things was out of our control. Some things we could control, some things we couldn’t. We didn’t get it done. We can’t make excuses about it. We just didn’t get it done.”In the past nine years, the Lakers have missed the playoffs seven times. It is a previously unthinkable stretch for a franchise that was once used to competing for, if not always winning, championships.This is a franchise that expects adding superstars will save them, and sometimes they do. This season that equation didn’t work. More