Welp, It's All But Guaranteed Now That LeBron Is Going Continue His Dominance For The Foreseeable Future
God dammit. I know the temptation to say this shit about LeBron now that he's nursing his ankle injury and the Lakers are a blink away from playing in the play in tournament is hard to resist for some. But as someone who has spent many many years having his basketball life ruined by LeBron James (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017) I certainly would love is Max Kellerman shut the fuck up when it comes to this topic. Why? I've heard this before about another player of LeBron's caliber and that's why I've never been more certain that LeBron is probably nowhere close to being done. Sound familiar?
We all know what happened since that declaration right? Fast forward a few years and a few titles later and we had this
So what the hell Max Kellerman. Why do you have to do something like this which all but guarantees LeBron is going to continue to be dominant these next few years? Is he in decline or is he 36 playing a condensed schedule after making a deep playoff run and having no offseason? Maybe it's just a weird season that is impacting basically every single team that went deep last year.
Then my brain started thinking. Maybe this is all a plant. Klutch reaches out to all these talking heads to spew this shit so there can be this "LeBron is declining" narrative right before the playoffs. Maybe that's why he said that shit about being 100%. So that when he comes back it can add to this idea that he even plowed through an ankle injury to carry the Lakers. That's not lost on me. Either way, if you are someone who is waiting out the LeBron era, Max here probably just extended it by 3 years.
If we could, let's talk about the Lakers for a second. Anthony Davis left the game last night with back spasms but appears to be OK, and they have a big time game tonight against the Blazers. Both are 37-29, the Lakers the current 6 seed and Blazers 7th. Both sides have won a game in this H2H series, making tonight the all important tie breaker. That means if they finish with the same record, whoever wins tonight gets the nod for the higher seed. If LeBron isn't coming back anytime soon, that could be a problem. Here are their remaining schedules after tonight
LAL: PHX/NYK/HOU/IND/NO
POR: SA/HOU/UTA/PHX/DEN
Not exactly great if you're the Blazers. That's why this game is so important for them in the event they need that tie breaker. Remember, the Lakers will be without LeBron/Schroder for a little while down the stretch here. I'm someone that truly thinks if LeBron and AD are healthy it does not matter what seed they finish in, it would just suck for Suns fans if they somehow finish 7th. Imagine having your best season in forever and the reward is a rested and motivated LeBron in RD1? That's brutal.
But seriously, having Max Kellerman declare you are on the decline or it's a wrap for you is the best thing that could possibly happen to a player. It all but guarantees you are not even close to being done. God dammit.