LeBron Unsure About Playing In Future Lakers Games, Praises Chris Bosh

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be playing with more cohesion and without any inhibitions after they were officially knocked out of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. Luke Walton’s team have won two consecutive games since, the most recent one against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.

The Lakers had won just one game in March until their win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night, but now they have made it three this month with a 124-106 win over the Wizards. However, they are now playing just for pride more than anything else, with nothing to look forward to the rest of the season.

LeBron James was again part of the squad and played 34 minutes, recording 23 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds for his 32nd double-double of the season. It was the small forward’s third game in five days after missing the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 19 with a sore groin.

It was expected that James will be rested and given limited game time once they were eliminated from playoff contention, but he has played over 30 minutes in each of his last three games. It remains to be seen if he will again take the court when the Lakers face Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

James praised his teammates after their win over the Wizards and admitted he was unsure how many games he would play in their remaining eight encounters, but made it clear that his only objective was to help the team win every time he was on the court.

“I think our ball movement. Everybody felt in good rhythm because we had the ball movement. Defensively we got stops, you know Brad [Bradley Beal] is a tough cover man and we tried to put many bodies in front and make it tough for him, but he still got his points,” James said, talking about the Lakers’ win.

“I feel pretty good and I don’t know what the rest of the season is going to hold for me as far as how many games I may end up playing. But when I do, I suit up, then it’s my job to go out there and produce and try to help this team win ball games no matter what the situation is,” he added.

James, meanwhile, also paid tribute to Chris Bosh, whose No.1 jersey was retired by the Miami Heat on Tuesday during their game against Orlando Magic. The Lakers star admitted he was keen to miss the game against the Wizards and travel to Miami for the ceremony, but did not want to fall foul with the NBA officials.

Bosh, James, and Dwayne Wade were teammates in Miami between 2010 and 2014 and won two NBA championships while making four trips to the finals.

“I thought about almost taking this game off and flying to Miami for the ceremony but the NBA been on my a-- [laughing] you know about taking games off in the past so I didn’t want to test them,” James said, as quoted on SportsCenter.

“Chris Bosh is a brother to me, I love everything about him. I have seen the player from Georgia Tech what he turned into. But more importantly, the man that he is, you know his family, what he stands for, what he preach.

“It was an honor to be with him for four years, it was an honor for me to come into the league in 2003 with him. It’s an honor to still be a brother to him and to be able to send a text to him before the game tonight and tell him how proud I am of him and how well deserved it is to see his jersey go up in the rafters at South Beach,” the three-time NBA champion added.​