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Former NBA Star Shares Harsh Truth for LeBron James and Lakers

This former NBA star believes the Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble

Farbod Esnaashari

Apr 20, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts during the
Apr 20, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts during the / Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports
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The Los Angeles Lakers have two of the best players in basketball, but their production outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis can be very inconsistent. During a recent episode of Gil's Arena, former NBA star and Memphis Grizzlies guard Gilbert Arenas shared a harsh reality for James and the Lakers, saying teams can take them out simply by cutting off their best player.

"If you're cutting out the perimeter, Jokic just goes down low. If you try to double, everyone knows how to cut... With the Lakers, and a lot of teams, if you cut off LeBron, no one knows how to do anything else... If [Anthony Davis] was like Jokic, 'I'm gonna play down low, and then I start eating here.' Eventually they're like, 'Oh sh-t. Now I'm gonna double.' Now it's, 'Here Rui, here Prince, ya'll get open shots.' There's these different types of games they can play, and Jokic is showing you all of it in the same game. Different quarters he is doing something different."

For Arenas, he believes Jokic and the Nuggets are simply on a different level than the Lakers right now. This was the case in last year's Western Conference Finals despite Los Angeles hanging around in all four of those games, and could very well be the case again in this year's rematch.

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Farbod Esnaashari
FARBOD ESNAASHARI

12-year NBA veteran that's covered the league on Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and ESPN