Basketball

“LeBron James and the Lakers are nowhere close to the level of the Nets!”: Stephen A Smith makes a damning prediction about LA’s big three”

Tonoy Sengupta
|PublishedJul 31, 2021

"LeBron James and the Lakers are nowhere close to the level of the Nets!": Stephen A Smith makes a damning prediction about LA's big three"

Stephen A Smith does not believe LeBron James and the LA Lakers have enough to beat the Nets in a finals series

After the Russell Westbrook trade, the general perception of the LA Lakers has been pretty up and down in the NBA community.

Some think that the star power alone will elevate the team past any level they have experienced in recent history. Others think that the fit and complete lack of spacing could become a massive issue for the franchise.

So far, Lakers fans have tried to stay positive, clinging on to any positive report about any of their big three. But, it seems Stephen A Smith wants none of it and is already sure about the team’s ceiling.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Also Read: Kendrick Perkins explains why Lakers are the best in the NBA

“They would not beat the Nets”: Stephen A Smith is under no illusions about the LA Lakers’ ceiling

Stephen A Smith has never been shy about how he feels about anything in this world. The man has made a career out of making hot takes with conviction so strong, it makes fans more confused than a homeless man under house arrest.

Recently though, the tenured ESPN analyst perhaps gave his most agreeable and popular take of all time while discussing the Lakers’ ceiling for this upcoming season. Take a look at the clip in the tweet below.

As much as we want LeBron James and the Lakers to succeed, they just don’t have the chemistry and playstyle that can best the outright dominance of the Nets at full strength.

At the end of the day, LA still desperately needs better shooting around them in order for their big three to really be able to impact the game as much as they’d like.

Still, this is the NBA. Whether it be a trade, a free agency signing, favorites winning, or upsets being achieved, in this league, anything can happen.

Also Read: Skip Bayless makes a ridiculous claim about the new LA star ahead of next season

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.