LeBron Failed?, Lakers National Brand, NBA to Pretty, Appreciate LeBron

One championship, years of hype, and somehow the loudest take is still “failure.” I break down why LeBron James’ Lakers tenure triggers such extreme reactions, and why the truth sits in a more uncomfortable place: LA isn’t Milwaukee and it isn’t Denver. When you sign with the Lakers, the expectation is simple and brutal, win the NBA Finals. That context changes how we talk about success, pressure, and what a “good run” is supposed to look like in a big market.

I also call out how sports media narratives get twisted, especially the claim that the Lakers weren’t on national TV before LeBron. The Lakers are a national brand, and pretending otherwise is how lazy talking points turn into “facts,” dragging Kobe Bryant and entire eras into arguments that don’t need the extra noise.

Then we get into the NBA product right now: flopping, “ethical basketball,” and why the regular season can feel nothing like playoff basketball. If the league wants a game that’s both pretty and competitive, it has to enforce rules consistently. I lay out a clear solution modeled after soccer’s yellow card and red card approach, with real penalties that actually change behavior.

To close, I’m running with Gilbert Arenas’ point: stop using Michael Jordan comparisons as a way to cut LeBron down, and you can finally appreciate what 20-plus years of greatness really means. Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review, then tell me where you rank LeBron all-time.

Transcript

Lebron Failed?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Eight years with the Lakers, seven trips to the playoffs, two seasons where they made a conference finals and one championship. And you are going to have folks today earnestly, genuinely try to argue that LeBron's Lakers tenure was a failure. To which I would simply say or ask, has Giannis's thirteen-year Bucks career been a failure? Has Joker's twelve-year Nuggets career been a failure?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Welcome to the Third Down Conversation Your Plays for Sports and Entertainment. I am the turnip C. Let's talk about it. Yes, welcome on into the Third Down Conversation, my good people. This will be the third installment of Third and Short, where I'm gonna play a clip, and then I will let you know if I'm running with it or if I'm passing on it. The clip you just heard was from Nick Wright of First Thing First. And he's talking about if LeBron's tenure with the Lakers, if it was successful, or was it a failure? This whole topic is being talked about because it's a real possibility that LeBron leaves the Lakers this summer via free agency. Now, while that makes some Lakers fans happy and some not so happy, the question is being asked, was his tenure successful? What Nick went on to say in that video clip was if you call LeBron's tenure with the Lakers a failure, then you must also call Giannis' tenure with the Bucks a failure, as well as the Jokers' tenure with the Nuggets. When I hear that, I think Nick is being absolutely ridiculous. There's no way you can compare playing for the Bucks or the Nuggets as you playing with the Lakers. It's not even possible. LA is a much bigger market, first off. When you think about Milwaukee and Denver, there's no expectation of winning. They hope you do. They would love for you to win a championship. But if you don't, that's okay. A good season, we can sleep well at night. That ain't gonna fly in LA. The expectation is for you to win. And that's not win an NBA Cup, that's not win the Western Conference Finals, it is to win the NBA finals. Every superstar that has come to the Lakers via free agency has won a championship. So when you decide to come to the Lakers, that's what you're signing up for. That's the expectation. That's all that matters. Now let's talk about if LeBron's tenure was a success or a failure. And for me, it's simple. LeBron James came to the Lakers the summer of 2018. When he signed with the Lakers that summer, if you thought they would miss the playoffs twice, they will make the playoffs a few times via the uh play-in, they would go to two Western Conference Finals, they would go to one NBA Finals and win one championship, then you can call it a success. But we all know most people didn't think that. Most people thought that he would probably get two rings, have at least three finals appearances. Most people thought he would do something similar to what he did in the East. If I had said that, hey, they're only going to make two Western Conference finals, they're only going to make one NBA finals, they're going to miss the playoffs a couple of times. Most people would have called me a hater. Because no one thought it would play out the way that it did. Now, retroactively, media is looking at it, fans are looking at it, and they're making excuses. I do not believe that LeBron's tenure with the Lakers was a failure. They did win a championship. Whether you want to count that championship or not, that's up to you. But I also don't think it was a success. They didn't win enough. That's what it's about. How often did you win? And based on the standard that people had on him when he came, he never reached that standard. So no, it wasn't a success or a failure. It was so-so. It was okay. It's kind of like seeing a movie trailer. The trailer is is it's hot, it's banging. It's so exciting. You can't wait to see the movie. And then you go see the movie. And afterwards you say, you know, it was alright. Definitely could have been better.

The Lakers Were Always On TV

SPEAKER_03 6:51

I don't remember Lakers being on TV when Kobe. When Cobby, I don't remember them not being on TV because Kobe was hurt. You a lot. Lakers wasn't on TV. But I tell you who was on TV, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

And the Golden State Warriors. The Boston Semitics when they had them young guys coming up, Tatum and Brown, Smart, and Horbett. I can tell you who was on TV. You can say what you see, it's easy to say that now because LeBron there. They're gonna be on TV after LeBron leaves, cause Lucas there. But you a lie. You a lie.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

First, I promise this is not in an entire episode dedicated to attacking LeBron. I promise you that. But these clips are just, I couldn't help myself. Especially when, especially when people take shots at Kobe Bryant. Kobe's my favorite player. We all know that. I've I've he my guy. Shannon Sharp states in that clip that the Lakers were not on TV before LeBron James. And he's wrong. He's wrong. The Lakers are a brand. Period. LeBron did not make the Lakers. LeBron did not get the Lakers on the TV screen nationally. The Lakers have always been pushed down the fans' throat. That's just what the NBA does because they're one of the bigger brands. But back to Shannon Sharp. He said they were not on TV prior to LeBron coming. All Shannon had to do is a quick Google search. And he could see. Remember now, LeBron came July of 28th. Correction, LeBron came July of 2018. If he just took the time to do a little bit of research, he can see that the Lakers were on national TV on Christmas Day, December of 2017. All Christmas Day games are nationally televised. I mean, is that it's that easy? Like LeBron isn't the Lakers. And I don't think LeBron thinks he is Lakers. Like I don't think he made that. I don't think he believes he made that brand. But it's it's fans and media personalities like Shannon Sharp that cause fans like myself not to like LeBron James, which isn't even LeBron James's fault. But Shannon Sharp saying that is just again, it's ridiculous. And look, at the end of the day, Shannon is just hurt. Like he's he is hurt. You can hear it in his voice. He's hurt. He's like a black 60-year-old, like late six-year-old dude, okay? And you know that like that that that that gen that generation, when they are like so angry about something and so passionate about something, they say, you a lie, you a lie. And usually right after that, they're gonna say something that doesn't make sense. And what did Shannon Sharp say? That the Lakers were not on TV prior to LeBron James coming to the team. What? They're national bread. It doesn't make sense. It's okay, buddy. Buddy, hey, hey, count to 10. It's alright. I know you're a fan. They lost. They got eliminated from the playoffs. It's alright. Okay? Relax, big dog. Look, it I obviously I'm not running with this. Gotta pass. Got to pass.

Flopping And Two Different NBAs

SPEAKER_04 11:21

Term I believe is ethical hoops, right? Like ethical basketball. That's the term that we use inside the big top, right? I think to me, the old people have to take responsibility as well. Because I come from a city where in Detroit, if you play too physical, people complained about that and said, no, we want to clean up the game. The Michael Jordan's of the world. We want to see them fly through the air, and if they give power, call it. Now you can't say, oh, well, now you're selling cars because selling cars works. So it's not about, like you're confusing the illness with the symptoms. But I don't think. Symptoms is asking the league, what do you want to be as a league? Do you want to be competitive or do you want to be pretty? And I think the league has trended too far towards pretty and not towards competitive. That's why playoff basketball and regular season basketball looks like two completely different sports.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

That was the crew from Get Up talking about the flopping that's going on in the NBA. And essentially, what he's communicating is does the NBA want to be a league that's pretty or does it want to be a league that is competitive? I love this video and I'm for sure running with it. As the video states, if you watch the NBA in the regular season at all, and then transition to the playoffs, it for sure looks like two different leagues. I won't even say two different games or two different styles of play. It looks like two different leagues. In the regular season, you can't touch guys. I mean, you you blow on certain guys and it's a foul. But in the playoffs, you can pretty much close line a guy and they may or may not blow the whistle. And this topic is is being heavily discussed because of the thunder and SGA, and as a team, they flop a lot. Like there was a stat that SGA falls more than anybody in the in the entire league, which is kind of funny. And at the same time, you ask yourself, how ethical is this game? And I like SGA. I like SGA as a player, but the flopping is a bit much. So the question has become: how does the NBA get the flopping under control? Should it be more pretty? Should it be more competitive? For me, I would like for there to be some sort of combination. And to do that, just simply enforce the rules. I like what soccer did. And I got this from first thing first. Nick Wright actually said this, and I thought it was a good idea. In soccer, flopping was a major, major problem. So what they decided to do was if you flop, then you would get a red card, which means you would get suspended. And sometimes they can even give you a yellow card, which is like a very, very stern warning. But those things can add up over time and you can miss a game. I think something similar should happen in the NBA. Like if you flop, you should get a tech. And in the NBA, if you get so many techs over a season, you can miss a game. I think they should adopt something like that to help get it under control because it is rampant. Some of the best players in the league do it. It's even believed that teams are being coached and taught to sell, embellish. And that's just trying to get a competitive edge. So you can't really blame them, but it does make the game look very, very unethical. And as a league, the NBA has to ask itself: is that what we want our product to become? The NBA desperately needs to change the flopping rules, make them more stern, and then enforce them. Having rules in place, but not enforcing them means you have no rules.

Appreciating LeBron Beyond MJ Debates

SPEAKER_02 15:59

If you stop trying to compare him to Michael Jordan to discredit him and just look at him for himself, you can see how great he's been for 21 years. Nobody in NBA history can say they've been great that long.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

To close out the show, that was Gibbot Arenas speaking about if people would stop comparing LeBron to Michael Jordan, they could then appreciate LeBron James, the player. And I run with this. There's nothing wrong with being fans of all three. Nothing wrong with that at all. What LeBron has done over his 20 plus year career is nothing short of incredible, remarkable, something we will probably never see again. A guy year 23 still giving you what 24, 25 a night, doesn't look like a bum out there, still donking the ball, still playing at a high level. But it just seems like people take their opportunities to cut him down when they can. I hate that. LeBron James is one of the best players to ever play a game of basketball. He should be top three at least on any and everybody's list. The records, the accomplishments, the championships, they all speak for themselves. I'm of the mindset of while I would like to say Kobe is a goat, I can't quite give it to him, and that's my guy. I do believe MJ is the GOAT. But I also believe that LeBron has had the best career of any basketball player to ever play. I think those two things are different. When I think about GOAT, I look at Peak. At the peak of their powers, I think is MJ. Easily MJ. But when you talk body of work, meaning from start to finish, it's hard to say anybody else other than LeBron. He's in a room by himself when you talk body of work. And we will probably never see it again. So the appreciation for LeBron James needs to go up. You may not like him off the court, you may not like some of his you know decisions when it comes off the court, like you know, politics and things like that and all that stuff. You may not like the fact that he went to Miami. I don't. Or I didn't. But if you just take a few steps back and get a nice, clear vision of the full picture, it's hard not to marvel at what he's accomplished. Gilbert is spot on. I'm running with it. I'm running with it. This has been the third down conversation. I am D turnumseed.

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Please remember to like, subscribe, share the show, drop some comments. Until next time, Jesus loves you, and I'm out. Peace.