LeBron James Expresses Concern With Possibly Facing Star-Studded Portland Trail Blazers in Playoffs

LeBron James recently said a potential matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 2019-20 playoffs would be quite a challenge.

With three stars capable of huge scoring exploits on the Blazers, a Los Angeles Lakers-Blazers series would be quite entertaining.

Portland was ninth in the Western Conference when the NBA stopped operations last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

James was a guest on the Road Trippin’ podcast, which is hosted by his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye in addition to Allie Clifton, the Lakers’ current studio host.

As he was presented with a suggested tweak in the games up to the postseason if the league were to lift the suspension to resume basketball games, James complimented Damian Lillard and the Blazers.

“Listen, Dame Lillard in an eighth seed, that’s challenging,” James said. “… You got Dame Lillard who could go for 50 [points]; C.J. McCollum, who could go for 40; a Carmelo Anthony that, if he gets hot — which we know [he can] — in the postseason could go for 35-40 as well. … When you have that type of experience with Portland, they can make things happen.”

Lillard, in particular, would be be a handful for the Lakers in a first-round meeting. He torched the Purple and Gold for 48 points in a Jan. 31 win as he was in the midst of one of the hottest scoring streaks of his career.

During a 13-game stretch from mid-January to the first week of February, Lillard averaged 38.8 points on 51.1 percent shooting from the field while adding 9.1 assists a game.

McCollum and Anthony are two other legitimate threats that James mentioned that could give the Lakers huge headaches during a possible seven-game playoff series.