LeBron Says 'No Place' For Distracted Teammates As Lakers' Playoff Hopes Diminish

LeBron James wants his Los Angeles Lakers teammates fully focused on their chase for a place in the playoffs and admitted that any player getting distracted by the pressures of fighting for a spot in the post-season has no place in the franchise.

The Lakers have not made the playoffs for five consecutive campaigns and look to be heading for an early end to the campaign yet again. It will be a new scenario for James as he has made eight straight NBA Finals and 13 post-season appearances during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.

The Los Angeles franchise has dropped to 11th in the Western Conference after their disappointing 110-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. It came on the heels of their 128-115 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, both teams they were expected to beat.

The Grizzlies and the Pelicans are 14 and 12 games under .500 respectively and this loss on the road took all the shine of their impressive comeback win over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, which was their first game since the All-Star break.

"At this point, if you are still allowing distractions to affect how the way you play, then this is the wrong franchise to be a part of and you should just come and be like, 'Listen, I don't [think this is for me]. I cannot do this,'" James said, as quoted by ESPN.

“Like, seriously, if you're distracted by playoff pushes out of all the stuff that's been talked about this year, nah," the three-time NBA champion added. "Just come and do your job. We do our job at a high level and that's not a distraction. That's what you want. That's what you want every game. You want to feel like you're fighting for something."

The Lakers have 22 regular season games remaining and are said to have the 4th toughest run among all the teams. But James has called on his teammates to stay positive and play consistently in order to get over the line and make the playoffs.

"Just stay positive. That, you know, starts with me," James said. "I just got to stay positive. Keep knocking on the door. And I felt like if we play like we did tonight, then we got to continue that consistent effort that will get us over the hump as we make this push."

The Lakers, meanwhile, are certain to be already thinking about strengthening their ranks in the summer and Anthony Davis is likely to be on the top of their list having missed out on the forward before the trade deadline.

But NBA expert Colin Cowherd believes Davis will not solve any of the Lakers’ problems as they are in dire need of shooters rather than the Pelicans power forward, who is known for his all-round game. There is no doubt the six-time All-Star will make them much better, but it is unlikely to solve their current shortcomings.

“I don’t think Anthony Davis solves any of this, their biggest problem is they don’t have enough shooters, and LeBron knows this,” Cowherd said, as quoted on the Express. “LeBon doesn’t necessarily work well with big guys, he didn’t work great with Chris Bosh [in Miami], he didn’t work great with Kevin Love [in Cleveland]. He worked with Kyrie [Irving], he works with shooters."

“Davis doesn’t solve those issues, he makes the Lakers better and more interesting, but he won’t solve their biggest issue,” the NBA expert explained stating that the Lakers are currently 28th in three-point shooting and 29th in free throw percentages.