The Los Angeles Lakers extended their losing streak to three following the recent home defeat to the Miami Heat. The ongoing series of outcomes infuriated Gilbert Arenas as he made a business proposal to their talisman LeBron James involving Darvin Ham. His proposition was also directed at James’ wife, Savannah, and agent, Richie Paul as the 41-year-old candidly expressed his stance on the show, Gil’s Arena.
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“Speaking to LeBron, Richie Paul, Savannah, I don’t care which one y’all at this point do it but look just,” he stated before bringing out a garbage bag. Following this, Arenas highlighted his frustration with certain Lakers players, mentioning, “Go to the locker room. You put this [garbage bag] in [Taurean] Prince’s locker, you put this in Cam [Reddish]’s locker”.
Through his actions, the 3x All-Star wanted to shed light on an NBA tradition for kicking out teammates. Arenas thus added, “You don’t say s**t. When we get it, we know what to do. You clean this s**t like this. You put all your s**t in here and you get the f**k out of this arena”. “Three people play, they scored four. Pretty sure we can score four,” he later mentioned, showcasing his anger with the roster.
After that, the former point guard elaborated on the reason behind his statements, saying, “As long as they on this team, that motherf****r with the bald head and the bump [Ham] gonna keep putting their a**es in the game. I don’t know what he’s seeing in them. It’s like he’s trying to relive his career and wish someone put his sorry a** in the game”.
Despite the seeming harshness behind Arenas’ words, the remarks shed light on the recurring issues with the squad. On one hand, the lack of impactful role players has cost the franchise numerous times. On the other hand, Coach Ham’s blind trust in bench players at times has also held the team back. Thus, his words portrayed an accurate picture of the Lakers as they failed to maintain consistency.
The reaction of LeBron James and co. added further volume to Gilbert Arena’s words
The defeat to the Heat marked the organization’s 18th of the regular season as they went below the 0.500 win percentage. It displayed the shortcomings of the squad yet again as LeBron’s 38-minute-long endeavor resulted in a failure. It certainly disappointed the 39-year-old as he even refused to speak to the media after the match.
The differences within the team became public knowledge as Anthony Davis expressed a contrasting opinion following Ham’s statements. “We can’t find any consistency until we get healthy,” the head coach declared in the post-match conference. “We can’t use injuries as an excuse, we have guys in the locker room that can help us win,” Davis mentioned soon after.
This put the limelight on the potential tension within the roster as the franchise is on a 3-9 run since winning the in-season tournament. A season that started on a high has quickly gone downhill in the past few weeks. As things stand, the management may give a bit more time to Ham to figure things out. Yet, the tolerance for his mistakes has certainly thinned over time.
