LeBron James and Magic Johnson engaged in a bit of an indirect back-and-forth on Twitter over the weekend.
Following the Los Angeles Lakers' blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, the Hall of Fame point guard sent out a critical tweet calling out the Lakers' effort:
After being blown out by the Nuggets 133-96, we as @Lakers fans can accept being outplayed but we deserve more than a lack of effort and no sense of urgency. Owner @JeanieBuss, you deserve better.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 16, 2022
Less than 24 hours later, the Lakers' current point-big, LeBron James, apologized to Lakers fans for the team's underwhelming season and pledged to improve going forward:
#LakerNation I apologize and I promise we’ll be better! 👑💜💛
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 17, 2022
One game post-tweet (P.T.), the 2021-22 Lakers rose to LeBron's challenge.
Los Angeles defeated the Utah Jazz, 101-95, in a spirited performance on Monday at Crypto.com Arena. Inarguably, it was the best and most essential victory of the Lakers' season. Los Angeles (22-22) — riding a three-game losing skid and bereft of statement wins against top-tier playoff teams — was desperate to get back in the win column.
Afterward, LeBron — who declined to do postgame media after the debacle in Denver — was asked if he had a response to Magic's tweet.
“Nah,” LeBron said. Fair enough.
Russell Westbrook did speak to reporters after the Nuggets loss and shared his non-reaction to Magic's tweet.
“I do not have a reaction,” Westbrook said about the Lakers legend's commments. “Everybody is entitled, in this world, to their opinion. Regardless of what that it is. You can either take it and run with it or you can take it and put it in one ear and out the other or you can not respond to it. Magic's entitled to his opinion. And he's not here every day. He's not around us every day. He's not aware of what's going on internally with us and trying to figure things out. But I have no response to that.”
That said, Westbrook, Dwight Howard, Frank Vogel, and LeBron (via tweet) seemed to agree with Magic's criticism of the Lakers' effort, as each specifically cited the Lakers' porous effort in their defeat.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zIWCJzCaQN8MNkj6CE5Ss?si=acd6388097964ba3
On Monday, the Lakers tightened the screws and picked up their energy. They must have been on Twitter.
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