The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled against the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs over the past couple of years. Denver swept Los Angeles in last season's Western Conference Finals and have now eliminated the Lakers in the first round of this year's playoffs. While the Lakers managed to avoid a four-game sweep this year, Los Angeles was largely overwhelmed by the defending NBA champions.
But NBA legend Magic Johnson pointed to what he believes is the primary reason his former team was eliminated during the first round of the playoffs: load management. The Lakers have nobody but themselves to blame. They wouldn’t have been in the play-in game or finished as a 7th seed this season if they hadn’t lost too many games because of load management,' Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Lakers got off to a slow start in the regular season, which ultimately resulted in the team's NBA Play-In tournament berth. But the Lakers' two biggest stars did not appear to sit out of games to simply rest, as Johnson suggested. LeBron James, 39, played in almost every game down the stretch, only sitting out three games after March 1 despite dealing with a nagging ankle injury. Meanwhile, Davis played in all but two games over that same time period.
Haven’t given it much thought,' he said when asked what he’ll weigh when making a decision about his 22nd NBA season. 'Obviously, at some point, I’ll sit down with Rich, my agent, and sit down with my family and see what’s best for my career. We’ll cross that when we need to.' According to ESPN, James has a June 29 deadline to decide whether to opt into the final year of his contract.
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