LeBron James turned back the hands of Father Time with a phenomenal poster dunk over Mavericks big man Derrick Lively in their latest face-off. However, Lively and the Mavs had the last laugh as they came out with a 118-97 victory over the Lakers. The most impressive aspect of Dallas’ blowout win is that they defeated the Lakers without Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, acknowledging the duality of this matchup, gave LeBron his due praise for his dunk but also called out the team for their inability to win.
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The Lakers haven’t had the most desirable 2024-25 season. They are currently 20-16 but far away from being the championship contenders they aspired to be. Smith took to ESPN’s First Take to give the LA-based franchise a reality check. He said,
“That was a big-time dunk, we loved seeing it. But did we love seeing the Lakers get their a** kicked? I don’t think we liked that!”
.@stephenasmith gives a round of applause to LeBron’s dunk but calls out the Lakers’ loss to the Mavs.
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 8, 2025
James’ dunk is arguably the best so far this season. It sent the internet into a state of shock that a 40-year-old is able to perform such an incredible act on the basketball court. However, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter as the Lakers would much rather have won the game. There is plenty of praise for James’ individual accomplishments, which brings confusion to Smith who thought the Lakers star wanted to win titles.
“Let’s stand up and praise LeBron James!” Smith sarcastically said. “I thought that we are supposed to be interested in championships? Everybody and their grandmama know they ain’t going no damn place cause they don’t have the personnel.”
Smith’s passionate rant isn’t due to the Lakers simply losing a game but losing to the Mavericks without Irving and Doncic. This is a game any team that believes they’re a championship contender wouldn’t lose.
Lakers don’t have enough talent
Los Angeles has attempted to make their roster better. Earlier, they finalized a trade with the Nets to acquire Dorian Finney-Smith in exchange for D’Angelo Russell. Although it makes their team better, it doesn’t substantially increase the ceiling of the roster.
Smith is among many who believe the Lakers don’t have enough talent to make noise in the Western Conference. They pale in comparison to the Thunder, Rockets, and the Grizzlies. Lakers general manager, Rob Pelinka, still has first-round picks at his disposal to try to gather more talent. However, the potential mid-season acclimation of a strong talent isn’t an easy feat for a team.
