Stephen A. Smith Reacts To Lakers Being Eliminated From Playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers fought hard, but they just couldn’t overmatch the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets were the much better team on both ends of the floor and in most aspects of the game, and even though the Lakers kept it close in all four games, they just couldn’t close them out down the stretch.

That’s why Stephen A. Smith had no choice but to tip his hat to the Nuggets, citing that his heart was with the Lakers because he wanted to be in Los Angeles as opposed to Denver.

I didn’t want to be right…but here we are https://t.co/Z6Jot2AvSy pic.twitter.com/k8CvgOAAzT

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 23, 2023

Smith also praised LeBron James for getting a grand total of four seconds of rest in the whole game despite being 38 years old, and called out Anthony Davis for not stepping up when it mattered the most.

Notably, that has been a worrisome trend with Davis throughout his career with the Lakers, and it doesn’t seem like anything is going to change at this point.

Davis was supposed to carry LeBron’s torch and be the team’s go-to guy and most crucial piece, but that just hasn’t been the case.

Outside of that impressive run in the NBA bubble, Davis has been mostly missing in action since arriving in Los Angeles, either because of injury or inconsistency.

James officially hinted at retirement for the first time in his career, and now Rob Pelinka and his staff will have to weigh in whether Davis is the right guy to lead their franchise’s transition into a new era despite this history of shortcomings.