Will Lakers' disappointing season stain LeBron's legacy?
If LeBron James' tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers could be summed up in one word, the word might be uneven.
After missing the playoffs in his first season with the franchise in 2018, James helped lead the Lakers back to prominence in 2019, winning the NBA Finals. An injury-plagued 2020 season saw the Lakers slip from contenders to first-round pushovers, and now, they are on the verge of being a lottery team once again.
The Lakers (27-34) are currently ninth in the Western Conference and only two games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for the 10th and final spot in the play-in tournament.
If the Lakers maintained this pace for the rest of the season, they would finish the season with 35 wins, the lowest total for a James-led team since his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where they also won 35 games.
With such a disappointing season on hand, would it be a negative on James' sterling resume? Not in the eyes of Colin Cowherd, who believes this season won't even be remembered when discussing James' career.
"Nobody talks about the bad movies from Marlon Brando," Cowherd said on "The Herd."
"Nobody talks about MJ with the Wizards and nobody talks about Favre with the Jets."
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The Los Angeles Lakers have added another loss to their season after falling to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, making their path to the playoffs even more difficult.
Both Favre and Michael Jordan experienced similarly disappointing tenures with the New York Jets and Washington Wizards respectively, missing the playoffs with both franchises.
But while James could miss the playoffs with the Lakers this season, his stint with the franchise should ultimately be seen as a success.
His legacy is intact, according to Cowherd. Everything that comes now is just filler for the story.