The Lakers blew a 10-point lead last night in Golden State, losing 115-101 to the Warriors. The Dubs made a push towards the end of the third quarter that the Lakers couldn’t recover from, especially without LeBron James, who missed last night’s game due to “load management.”
Lakers coach Luke Walton reportedly confronted the team’s veteran players after the loss, according to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.
As uncertainty surrounds Lakers into deadline week, several veterans — including Michael Beasley — had an emotionally-charged verbal exchange with head coach Luke Walton postgame tonight, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium. It stopped short of turning physical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019
Michael Beasley, Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee were reportedly upset with Walton’s emphasis on “playing unselfishly,” per Charania.
The argument never got physical and in ESPN‘s report, written by Dave McMenamin, McGee and Beasley challenged Walton on his substitution patterns.
Another source of frustration for Walton, per McMenamin, was Beasley referring to him as “bro” several times.
But the argument has apparently been blown out of proportion.
Stephenson posted an Instagram story that read: “Media decided to add Lance Stephenson. I’m in a very happy place. Nothing but positive. If u going to write a story get the real facts please.”
And a source told ESPN‘s Ramona Shelburne that “It never got close to getting out of control, people are always emotional after a loss.”
A Lakers player reportedly told Marc Spears from The Undefeated that “Nothing crazy happened. Luke said some things. The players said some things back. No one was disrespected. Nothing crazy was said.”
The Lakers next game is on Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers.
h/t The Athletic, ESPN
