LeBron James Helps Los Angeles Lakers to First Win Of the NBA Season

To say things are not going well at the Crypto.com Arena would perhaps be an understatement of epic proportions, but at least new head coach Darvin Ham can celebrate his first win in charge of the Los Angeles Lakers, albeit the victory has come in game six of the 2022-23 NBA season.

Prior to last season, it had looked as if efforts made by general manager Rob Pelinka would usher in back-to-back NBA titles for the Lakers, with the likes of Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony being brought in, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Frank Vogel’s side slumped to a horrific 33-49 season, and that was not even enough to secure a spot in the play-in tournament, and as a result, he was fired. It is worth noting that despite the poor form shown by the Lakers, veteran LeBron James performed admirably while those around him faltered.

Their slump was dramatic, even more so when you consider they won the NBA title the previous season, proving that betting on basketball games and the NBA futures market, in particular, can be tricky. 

LeBron still averaged 30.3 points per game, despite the poor form the Lakers showed overall, and you can only imagine how much worse their record would have looked without him busting a gut to make a difference. 

The arrival of Ham was considered to be a possible catalyst to get the Lakers back into gear, but things, up to now, haven’t quite worked as they would have wished. 

Losses to reigning champions Golden State Warriors, the L.A Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Timberwolves saw them go 0-5 before they hosted the Nuggets again.

Fortunately, on this occasion, the Lakers finally got the win they so desperately needed, and LeBron James was once again the player to lead by example. The 37-year-old, four-time NBA champion top scored with 26 points while Anthony Davis provided very useful support and even Russell Westbrook weighed in with a cameo spell.

The win pleased Ham, who may have felt some of the pressure on him ease a little;

“Tonight, we needed to prove something to ourselves. Not to the world, not to the media, to ourselves,” 

“I feel great about how we responded throughout the game,” Ham added.

Westbrook was also keen to reassert himself into the narrative, but in a good way, with his ability on the court helping to do the talking;

“Like I’ve mentioned since Day One, whatever is needed from me to help the team win, that’s what I’ll do,” Westbrook added triumphantly.

But it was LeBron James, once again, that did the damage, and the records being set by the NBA legend continue to mount up. He set the record for most 20-point regular season games, which he has now accomplished an astounding 1135 times, and it’s worth noting that he’s never averaged fewer than 20 points a season since he was drafted way back in 2003.

The term legend, especially in sports, is used far too often, and it’s rarely a fair assessment of a player’s actual talents, but LeBron is not only the best player of his generation but arguably the best to ever play in the NBA, and he’ll want to see the Lakers push on from this first win of the season as they look to secure post-season action after last season’s failures.

As well as being a presence on the court, it’s worth noting the importance of LeBron James in the dressing room, and it’s a factor that Ham is looking to use to the team’s advantage. For instance, the Lakers star didn’t hold back after an earlier defeat hit home;

“Being completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting. That’s just the truth of the matter. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.”

It’s the kind of comment that should help push his teammates to do better, and when such statements are made by a player of LeBron’s stature, they just have to be taken in the constructive manner they are meant.

The Lakers have a good run of games coming up, with nine of their next ten games taking place at the Crypto.com Arena (albeit one is technically a road trip to take on the Clippers), and if they can come out the other end with a record that looks more promising than .167, then they may have something to build on as the season progresses.