The Los Angeles Lakers have picked things up recently after a rough 2-10 start, but it seems like analyst Charles Barkley still doesn’t believe in them.
He said as much after the Lakers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
“The Lakers, they’re trying to win a championship, which they got zero chance of,” Barkley said.
Barkley has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on the Lakers. After the organization hired Darvin Ham to be its head coach, the Hall of Famer said the team still wouldn’t be any good.
Late last month, Barkley said that big man Anthony Davis has disappointed everybody and that he should’ve been the “best player in the league by now.”
Davis, who has been looking like a prime MVP candidate recently, was unable to finish the game on Tuesday after playing just eight minutes. He had flu-like symptoms and recorded one point, three rebounds and two assists.
Ham explained what was wrong with the superstar after the game.
Darvin Ham on Anthony Davis' sickness: "His temperature went over 100. He felt too weak, drained and dehydrated a little bit."
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 7, 2022
The loss on Tuesday snapped a three-game winning streak for the Lakers and dropped their record to 10-13, which has them in 13th place in the Western Conference.
However, the squad is just three games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for sixth place. A week or two of good results could at least catapult the Lakers into a play-in tournament spot.
The Lakers have three games left on their current road trip. They will play the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, Philadelphia 76ers on Friday and Detroit Pistons on Sunday. Their first game back home at Crypto.com Arena will be against the Boston Celtics, the team with the best record in the NBA, on Dec. 13.
As for the Cavaliers, they are now 16-9 and sit in third place in the Eastern Conference. They have won eight of their last 11 games and look like true contenders in the East. The offseason addition of Donovan Mitchell has done wonders for the squad. He put up 43 points in Tuesday’s game against the Lakers.
The only way these two teams will see each other again this season is if they both make it to the NBA Finals. Both squads are surely hoping that that ends up being the case.
