The Los Angeles Lakers season hit a new low Sunday, falling to the lowly New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Making matters worse, Hall of Fame point guard Walt Frazier went after LeBron James during the game’s broadcast, when James was seen sitting at the end of the bench, out of the huddle during a timeout.
“This type of behavior is not — when you’re the face of the NBA, I think you should be more a part of your team no matter what is going on,” Frazier said in the broadcast via Bleacher Report. “In the public you have to be a part of the team. In the locker room you’re not, but you have to (show) that type of togetherness in public and right now we see he doesn’t really care.”
Many jumped to the defense of LeBron, perhaps with Stephen A. Smith chief among them.
The analyst called Frazier’s comments “irresponsible” on Monday’s airing of “First Take” on ESPN.
James almost certainly will see his run of eight straight NBA Finals appearances come to a close this season, along with his current stretch of 14 consecutive years in the playoffs. It’s not much of a surprise that James has taken a lot of heat for the way things have gone thus far in Hollywood, but James never really has been known to be a bad teammate, and it’s hardly fair to say he doesn’t care, as Frazier insinuated.
Surely James was hoping for better results this season, but you can’t blame him for being dejected that things haven’t exactly panned out so far.
