LeBron James and the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers won't play in the postseason. That's a tough pill to swallow for an organization that traded away most of its core to make another run at the NBA Finals.
Sure, it happens. Even the best teams often underperform and fail to live up to the expectations. However, finishing nearly 20 games below .500 and not even being a top-10 team is one of the biggest failures in recent history.
But even so, and although the Lakers were the laughing stock of the league for most of the season, LeBron still doesn't feel like this was the worst season of his career. Per him, it doesn't compare to his first year with the Miami Heat.
NBA News: LeBron James Says This Isn't The Worst Season Of His Career
“Yeah, for sure. My first few years in the league I didn’t make the playoffs. But my first year in Miami, I made it all the way to the Finals and lost. That was the worst experience of my basketball career,” LeBron told the media.
“That year in Miami. … Getting all the way to that point that we all came together for and then losing in that Finals being up 2-1. That was the worst summer of my life but also the best summer of my life too because I really got an opportunity to hone in on my game that summer and became a whole new basketball player,” James added. “I hate losing. This is not what we signed up for. But this isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me so far. It’s not even close."
Then again, you have to take this with a grain of salt. I mean, James had already been to the Finals and lost before joining the Heat, so it's not like it was new to him. But hey, whatever helps him sleep at night.
