標籤: loser

On Wednesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers continued their winning ways with their second consecutive victory over the Houston Rockets. LeBron James had a stellar game, scoring 30 points on an incredible 13-14 from the field, helping guide his team to consecutive wins.

After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick made a humorous quip, joking that watching James do what he does at age 41 “makes me feel like a loser.”

After this James responded with a funny comment.

“If he’s a loser, we’re all in deep shit,” James said, according to X, formerly of Oh No He Didn’t, on Twitter.

Redick has earned the respect of both the Lakers players and fanbase over the past few seasons in Los Angeles, guiding the team to the number three seed in the Western Conference a season ago, a spot they currently hold in the standings as the 2025-26 season enters its home stretch.

This time, the Lakers will hope for a better playoff result than the five-game shellacking they received from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the postseason last year, and if their recent play is any indication, Los Angeles could be a very scary opponent in the playoffs this year.

Right now, the Lakers are playing their best defense of the season, featuring James off the ball more to conserve energy, and Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves showing better effort on that end of the floor.

It also helps that the Lakers are on offense right now, but when that finally settles down, they’ll still have all the tools they need to scare Western Conference contenders in the coming months.

On paper, Deandre Ayton has enjoyed a great start to life with the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in 53 starts. Dig deeper, however, and the cracks begin to appear, mostly due to flaws on defense and Ayton’s refusal to become a role player on a roster loaded with offensive talent.

This was very evident in Ayton’s “They’re trying to make me Clint Capela” comment, which has drawn some harsh criticism from Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem.

“I played with the Big 3, the other 12 of us didn’t have the role we wanted… and you’re no different than Deandre Ayton. Play your role and get your ring or not.”

– Udonis Haslem 👀

(via @NBAonPrime)pic.twitter.com/VG4O5jH1X5

– ClutchPoints (@clutchpoints) 6 March 2026

“For Deandre Ayton, we’re talking about buying in. That’s a losing mentality. If that’s what’s required of you to put your team in a position to win a championship, then you’ve got to buy in and do your part,” he said, according to a post on X by ClutchPoints, suggesting that Ayton needs to be more open to his team’s needs.

The Lakers need the No. 1 pick of the 2018 draft to become a rim-running, screen-setting center and play a less offensive role with primary scorers like LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

“I played with the Big 3, the other 12 of us didn’t have the role we wanted. Only three guys had the role they wanted. Everybody else had to fill a gap and play their role to get wins. And you’re no different than Deandre Ayton. Play your role and get your ring or not,” Haslem concluded, referencing his time playing with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James.

With Doncic orchestrating the offense and LeBron continuing to serve as one of the league’s most productive creators even early in his career, Los Angeles doesn’t need additional post-up scoring from its center. Instead, the offense requires vertical spacing, offensive rebounding, rim protection, and efficient finishing near the basket.

However, Ayton has a plus-minus of -65 since the All-Star break, primarily due to an erratic style of play with regular defensive lapses. His two-point performance against the Phoenix Suns also earned applause from Capela, who urged Ayton to be locked up because his team had two of the game’s best floor generals.

Needless to say, as Haslem has claimed, Ayton may need to embrace his new role with the Lakers, especially given the overall production their Big-3 is currently producing.

The NBA is struggling with a big problem right now in the form of tanking. The league inadvertently has rules in place that effectively encourage teams to throw games in hopes of getting a better draft selection.

At a time when the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers have been heavily fined by the league for violating player participation policies, Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia is not saying anything about the practice.

“It’s an embarrassment, that’s totally, my point of view, tanking is a loser mentality. I’ve never been around anyone. You show me somebody who wants to lose, who thinks about losing, I’ll show you a loser, he’s a loser, that’s not my stuff,” Ishbia revealed on The Pat McAfee Show, according to a post by ClutchPoints on X.

“It’s a shame. It’s terrible. My view is that tanking is a loser mentality. … I think it’s bad for the NBA.”

Suns governor Matt Ishbia on the league’s tanking issue.

(via @PatMcAfeeShow)pic.twitter.com/dqK2YShWFf

– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 25 February 2026

“So I don’t like to lose, I don’t ever want to talk about losing. We try to win and the draft works, if you don’t have a good team, you get a good pick. But if you intentionally trade for players and then don’t play them, try to lose games. I think it’s bad for the NBA, I think Adam Silver knows it, organizations know it, it’s got to change. It will change.

After the 2026 All-Star break, the race to the bottom has become so transparent that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was forced to impose massive financial fines against organizations openly throwing games.

“It’s fixable, and credit to Adam Silver. He knows it’s a problem, he’ll fix it. I believe he’ll fix it, but you can’t have teams like that…the incentives are misaligned right now,” Ishbia declared.

The Utah Jazz were fined a whopping $500,000 for benching healthy stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of highly competitive games against Orlando and Miami. Shortly afterward, the Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for resting Pascal Siakam and two other starters in violation of the league’s player participation policy.

Ishbia’s statements indicate that at least some owners in the NBA value competition above all else, even if it proves detrimental due to NBA rules.