After many months of incessant trade rumors and doom and gloom prognostications, the Los Angeles Lakers played their first exhibition game of the new season on Monday.
Overall, they played very poorly, committing lots of turnovers and losing by the ugly score of 105-75 to the Sacramento Kings.
They shot just 31.2 percent from the field, and LeBron James was as bad as anyone, as he went 0-of-7.
But James said he’s not the least bit concerned.
Via Lakers Nation:
“I just missed some shots tonight,” he said. “I missed three layups, wide-open layups, a couple of 3s. I’ve been 0-for before, but I just played more. I’ve started a game where I’ve been like 0-for-9 before but I’ve played 35-40 minutes, I got an opportunity to get my rhythm. 15 minutes and it was over with [tonight], but that’s the last thing on my mind as far as makes or misses.”
The four-time MVP also made it clear that he is mainly focused on getting into game shape during the six-game exhibition slate.
“For me, it’s all about just getting in a rhythm and getting my conditioning,” he said. “These are the easiest games and opportunities to obviously put in the stuff that we’ve been working on this last week, but just also getting my rhythm and getting my conditioning down while I’m on the court.”
James has had plenty of rest this summer, as the Lakers missed the play-in tournament last season, meaning that their offseason started in early April.
The last time James and crew had such a long offseason, they went on to win the NBA championship the following season.