The start of the 2018-19 season has been anything but smooth sailing for the Los Angeles Lakers. After a 2-5 start to the year, they have slowly started finding their groove, winning three straight and five of the last six.
Prior to that, though, tensions were high in Lakerland. Magic Johnson held a “volatile” meeting with Luke Walton and the head coach’s job was placed in jeopardy. But Magic was not the only one who overreacted to the slow start as LeBron James told Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports that remaining patient has been difficult for him in the early stages of the year before explaining how he has coped:
“I haven’t changed anything outwardly, but you know me. You know how I am. I almost cracked [last week]. I had to sit back and remind myself, ‘[Expletive], you knew what you were getting yourself into,’” James told Yahoo Sports while laughing after Saturday’s win in Sacramento. “This process has been good for me. I just have to continue being patient.”
“I had to regroup and remember this is a young team,” James told Yahoo Sports. “We’re playing some good ball right now and we’re starting to build some good habits. That’s all that matters right now.”
James has had his own fair share of struggles to start the year as the team continues to find its groove. But the team has finally started to string together some wins and the overreaction has at least had one positive effect with the Lakers signing Tyson Chandler to shore up their center position.
That leaves the Lakers continuing to make progress as LeBron put it. They are clearly nowhere close to their peak with major pieces like Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram still struggling. But they’re winning in spite of that, reaching a winning record for the first time since 2016 after beating the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
Everyone knew there would be struggles and LeBron’s reaction to them was a major topic of conversation all offseason. So far, the King has kept his cool with the young roster around him.
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