The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns thanks to a last-second shot from Royce O\u2019Neal. And it was enough for noted fan Shannon Sharpe to throw in the towel on the season, and maybe even the direction of the franchise as a whole.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t all been a disaster for the Lakers this season, but the drama surrounding LeBron James, the conversation around Luka Don\u010di\u0107, and the Succession-style ownership intrigue have overshadowed the season.<\/p>\n
In spite of the loss to the Suns last night, the team still sits in sixth place in a stacked Western Conference. But it\u2019s clear the team is closer to the play-in group of teams than they are actually contending for a championship.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s something that is never going to sit well with their fanbase, even a dedicated superfan like Shannon Sharpe.<\/p>\n
On his\u00a0Nightcap\u00a0podcast<\/a> with Chad Johnson, Sharpe admitted the Lakers were a \u201cbad basketball team.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannon Sharpe rips the Lakers after last nights loss:<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a bad basketball team. I know everybody say LeBron needs to leave, but you think a backcourt of Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic are a championship contending team? They\u2019re not a championship team with LeBron, they\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/dZCndcWFxE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a bad basketball team,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cI know everybody says, well LeBron needs to leave, but you think LeBron leaving and they load up on a backcourt of Austin Reaves and Luka Don\u010di\u0107. If you think the Lakers are a championship contending team, they\u2019re not a championship contending team with LeBron. They\u2019re not. They\u2019re not going to be a championship contending team without LeBron.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharpe also had some comments about Luka Don\u010di\u0107, saying that he can\u2019t change his stripes when it comes to playing defense and arguing with officials. While it\u2019s still universally agreed that the Lakers getting Don\u010di\u0107 straight up for Anthony Davis was one of the most unbelievable deals in the history of pro sports, the narrative is starting to turn against the Lakers superstar<\/a> as some of his deficiencies are falling under a larger microscope.<\/p>\n In fact, Shannon Sharpe may have come to the same conclusion that former Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison did. It\u2019s tough to win with Luka on your team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got Luka. But a lot of times Luka numbers don\u2019t correlate to winning. When a guy has 41, 8, and 8, you\u2019re like damn. He only had 3 turnovers, but he leads the league in turnovers. He had a couple of steals, but he just can\u2019t play defense Ocho. He just can\u2019t. He\u2019s never going to be able to play. Tonight was little better as far as arguing with the refs because every time he\u2019s arguing with the refs, he\u2019s doing this, he\u2019s looking for a call. But that\u2019s who he is. So we might as well move on past that, saying Luka stop arguing. It\u2019s not going to happen. And he\u2019s said, \u2018well I need to stop arguing with the officials.\u2019 You can\u2019t. That\u2019s who you are. That\u2019s your make up.\u201d<\/p>\n