The Los Angeles Lakers are losers of seven of eight and players are being subjected to numerous rumors of a big offseason that could see some of them replaced or moved. All the speculation has done nothing good for the culture in the locker room.
With that in mind, the Lakers held a team meeting on Thursday in which players spoke freely about their frustrations and grievances with what Brandon Ingram called “the business of the organization.”
“Hopefully we think about what we said to each other,” Ingram said, via Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. “What we said to the coaches and that the coaches have listened to what we said. Hopefully we can take it into practice, into games and just get better.”
Some of the frustration stems from roles. Forward Julius Randle played only 11 minutes on Wednesday and has had to listen to various reports about his future with the franchise.
Coach Luke Walton called all the frustrations “normal” and admitted that he understood the sources of it.
“There’s some frustration,” Walton said. “But there’s frustration on every team unless you win every game. Whenever you lose games, there’s frustration, people want to play more as everyone in the league should want to play more.”
Rumors about big moves in free agency and potential trades to clear cap space are exciting for fans, but can certainly unsettle players. A meeting like this was overdue.
