NBA news: LeBron James fan REVOLT warning, Anthony Davis trade claim, Kevin Durant FUMES
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LeBron James warned of potential fan revolt
LeBron James has been warned that fans could turn against him if continues to criticise his Los Angeles Lakers team-mates and the franchise fail to turn their fortunes around.
“Well, let me ask you something because I'm curious: At what point do we see Lakers fans begin to turn on LeBron and we see a Kobe fan uprising?” Sports Illustrated’s Andrew Sharp asked. “Because I think he's gotten the benefit of the doubt from the majority of Lakers fans throughout this season.
“And it speaks to the thirst that that fan base has had for any kind of relevance, and they were willing to overlook a lot of shortcomings with LeBron, or at least potential downsides that came with this era.
“Even back in the preseason LeBron came out and said I don't have to prove anything to these guys. I'm LeBron James.
“I wonder how long that is going to last because at some point people are going to turn around, and I think it started this weekend, where he questioned whether basketball was the first priority in the lives of guys like Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram and the rest of that team.
“Which goes without saying you can ask the same about LeBron.
“So that's what I'm watching for over the next two months. I don't really see this Lakers team making the playoffs, but I'm more curious about how that plays around L.A.”
think we've got to put our foot on the gas early
Anthony Davis trade statement
The Los Angeles Lakers’ problems won’t be solved if they sign Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans, Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd has claimed.
“I don’t think Anthony Davis solves any of this, their biggest problem is they don’t have enough shooters, and LeBron knows this,” the NBA expert said during a recent episode of The Herd.
“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.”
Kevin Durant fumes after Golden State Warriors lose to Miami Heat
Kevin Durant has urged his Golden State Warriors team-mates to start firing on all cylinders earlier during matches following their shock loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
"I think teams are just coming out just relaxed against us," Durant said. "They have nothing to lose, especially a young team like this, so when you play a little bit more relaxed those jump shots start to fall.
"Tonight we've seen that with this young group, they came out with a lot of energy, fed off their crowd and they kind of started off really fast.
"For us, we have to start games with a little more intensity, energy to just bust a game open early.
"I think we're easing our way into it, seeing how teams are going to play us, but I think we've got to put our foot on the gas early."