On Wednesday, LeBron James participated in an NBA game for the first time since breaking the previous scoring mark.
It was also the first time LeBron played alongside his new teammates following the Lakers’ flurry of NBA trade deadline moves. A new-look LA side made easy work of the New Orleans Pelicans, defeating them in a 120-102 blowout, and unsurprisingly, it has gotten Lakers fans all excited.
Even NBA analyst Kenny Smith of TNT could not help but come out with his own bold take on this latest iteration of the Lakers. Smith liked what he saw from LeBron and Co. in their win against the Pels, and the two-time NBA champ just had to speak his truth:
“I’mma tell you what. I watched the Los Angeles Lakers play last night,” Smith said. “… That’s the most talented Lakers team that LeBron has been on since [Kyle] Kuzma and those guys in the bubble. Without question. That has a lot of talent on that team.”
"That's the most talented Lakers team that LeBron has been on since [Kyle] Kuzma and those guys in the bubble. Without question."
Agree with @TheJetOnTNT? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/MMAeWEDBbO
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 17, 2023
Much like the rest of Laker Nation, Kenny Smith clearly has some high hopes for this Lakers team. To be fair, they were very impressive on Wednesday against New Orleans, with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and new recruit D’Angelo Russel all scoring at least 21 points on the evening. Other newcomers such as Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Rui Hachimura, and even Mo Bamba also made their presence felt.
The Lakers still have a long way to go, though. They enter the All-Star break with a 27-32 record and are currently 13th in the Western Conference. Nevertheless, it’s hard for LA supporters not to get excited at this point.
Source: https://clutchpoints.com
