“Forget Championship”: Shannon Sharpe Rages Against the Lakers for Getting Embarrassed by Pistons at Home

The Lakers’ championship aspirations are fast dwindling as they continue to lose against teams with inferior records. They dropped to 16-13 following a 114-117 loss to the Detroit Pistons at home on Monday. ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe didn’t hold back in his assessment of the LA side’s performance. He, in fact, laid down the gavel, declaring that the Lakers’ championship window is officially closed.

Sharpe took to ESPN’s First Take to highlight the issues plaguing the Lakers this season. He said, “They [Lakers] let a team build a 10, 12-point lead and then it gets late in the game, then all of a sudden they want to play hard. Forget championship, that’s just not conducive for winning basketball because they’re so far.”

“I’m closer to winning a championship than the Lakers are right now and I’m not even in the NBA,” the former NFL star dramatically added.

Sharpe has publicly expressed his support for the Lakers and superstar LeBron James on many occasions. However, he was unable to contain his emotions after the kind of showing that the team has been putting forth on a daily basis. By no means are the Lakers the worst team in the NBA. But they are far from where they strive to be, which is in contention for a championship.

As of today, the Lakers are seventh in the West and slotted for their fourth Play-In Tournament berth in the last five seasons. In addition, their tendencies on the court don’t reflect championship-level habits. They are the 24th-ranked team in opponent field goal percentage as teams shoot 47.6% against them.

Sharpe declared that this is a byproduct of the Lakers’ lackadaisical approach to basketball games, which results in early deficits. The 56-year-old also called out the LA side for turning the ball over 20 times in a single game against Detroit.

This isn’t the first instance Sharpe has criticized the Lakers. Throughout the season, the Hall-of-Fame football player has been critical of LA’s ball-handling.

Sharpe’s criticism of the Lakers

On November 29, the Lakers suffered a 93-101 loss to the Thunder in an NBA Cup matchup. The game came down to the wire, but a crucial turnover jeopardized the Lakers’ hopes of winning that game. Sharpe took to X to share a brutal post about the team.

“Perfect ending,” Sharpe said. “Eventually Lakers will get the hint and stop turning the basketball over. Until then, they’ll keep losing.”

The Lakers are actually one of the better teams at taking care of the basketball. They are currently the eighth-ranked team in turnovers. However, when they do turn the ball over, it is in crucial moments of the game. As a result, they have lost multiple close games for their timely errors.

Sharpe’s comments hold validity and are an area of concern for the Lakers. Anything is possible in the NBA, but a turnaround from the Lakers will need to happen quickly. Or else another season of the LeBron James era will go down the drain.