Even Magic Johnson is very worried about the Lakers.
Los Angeles and its revamped roster is off to an ugly 0-2 start, after losing to the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns at Staples Center on Friday night. The Lakers were down 32 in the third quarter and starting fighting amongst themselves and with fans in the 115-105 defeat.
“The @Lakers have team issue and a basketball issue,” Johnson tweeted Friday.
Big men Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard got into a heated shoving match on the Los Angeles bench with the team struggling during the middle quarters. Also Rajon Rondo confronted a heckling fan, who was eventually ejected for slapping away the point guard’s hand.
Johnson, who won five titles with the Lakers and recently served as their president of basketball operations, doesn’t like what he’s seeing one bit.
“Dwight Howard and AD got into a physical altercation on the bench … in my 42 years of being associated with the Lakers organization, I’ve never seen something like that smh.”
The Lakers, who were also 0-6 in the preseason, are just two seasons removed from winning an NBA championship in LeBron James’ second year in LA.
They however took the risk this offseason of adding aging veterans such has Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbook to become the oldest team in the NBA (30.9 years) this season. Los Angles also has lacked a consistent 3-point shooter. Only time will tell if this Friday night was an aberration or the start of an ugly season for the Lakers that Johnson seems to fear.