LeBron James delivered an honest assessment of the Los Angeles Lakers' play after the team's slump continued with another loss, this time against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Lakers suffered a 127-113 home loss on Friday despite 32 points from LeBron, 31 from Anthony Davis and 19 from Austin Reaves, who added a career-high 12 assists.
Los Angeles has lost four straight games and been beaten in 10 of their last 13, struggling badly since lifting the NBA Cup in Las Vegas.
Coach Darvin Ham had insisted ahead of the game that he continues to have the support of the franchise despite speculation over his job status with his team sitting below .500.
With their record now at 17-19 and the Lakers now 11th in the Western Conference, LeBron did not hold back.
"I mean, we just suck right now," James said after the game.
James felt too much weight has been given to the Lakers' triumph in the in-season tournament.
"That was just two games," James said. "It's a small sample.
"Everyone is getting so cracked up about Vegas and keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business.
"It was the in-season tournament, we played it, we won it. But that was literally just two games."
Final Count pic.twitter.com/f9nGMTAa92
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 6, 2024
Memphis was last in the league for 3-point shooting percentage going into the game, but the Lakers gave up a season-high 23 from deep.
"They're NBA players," added LeBron. "They work on their craft, too.
"It seems to happen a lot versus us, where the percentages go the other way. We had our game plan and how we wanted to execute that, and I thought we did that as well as we could. They made us pay."
Ham is growing frustrated about the huge focus placed on every Lakers result.
"I'm tired of people living and dying with every single game we play," Ham said. "It's ludicrous, actually. It's like, come on, man, this is a marathon. And we hit a tough stretch.
"It's the same team. We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we just got to get back to that.
"We got to keep the fight going. We cannot lose our fight. This is the NBA. This is a marathon and you have to look at the totality of the picture."
Davis, meanwhile, understood the scrutiny that would come with their current losses.
"Wearing this uniform, you get a lot of flack, and guys are watching you under a microscope as a team," he said.
"You have a couple of bad games, lose a couple in a row, you can't lose your confidence. Can't be on social media, listening to whatever people are saying.
"We've got to stay together in this locker room and find our way out of it. There's no help coming. There's no cavalry. We've got to do it with the guys we've got and remain together.
"We still have a lot of basketball left. But we're trending in the wrong direction right now. And the last thing we need, especially when guys are out, is to separate and fall apart.
"So we got to stay together, for sure, and figure it out. We can't be in our feelings. We can't be complaining or whatever. We can't take anything personal.
"We have to look individually, myself, everyone in the locker room, the coaching staff, look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do individually better to help the team be better. And I think then we can come out and flip things around."
The Grizzlies improved to 12-23 after Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 31 points and Marcus Smart added 29 points with a season-high eight 3-pointers.
"It was good, because obviously we haven't won here in a while, said Ja Morant," who had 21 points for Memphis.
"It's the team that knocked us out of the playoffs. Obviously, we're not where we want to be right now during the season, so this was a big-time win for us. We can carry the momentum from this game."
The Grizzlies are on the road against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, while pressure is on the Lakers as they take on city rivals the Los Angeles Clippers.