On December 24, Beijing time, the Lakers lost to the Spurs by 28 points at home, suffering four consecutive losses. In this game, James tried his best, he got 36 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, and Westbrook also had 30 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in this campaign, and the two cores of this campaign combined to get 66 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. In this case, the Lakers still suffered a fiasco, the main reason is that the performance of other role players did not meet expectations.
In this game, Thomas Jr.'s performance was once again disappointing, this time he played 22 minutes off the bench, 1 of 5 from the field, 3 of 3 from three-point range, only 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and his plus-minus was -20, which ranked second to the bottom of the team.
When he's on the court, his defense is targeted, and the Spurs' guard lines like Walker and White, who can easily score against Thomas Jr.'s defense. In this game, White and Walker both scored more than 20 points and shot extremely efficiently. Thomas Jr.'s sluggish performance on the defensive end led to the team's eventual defeat in part.
It is worth mentioning that after Thomas Jr. joined the Lakers, the 4 games he played, the Lakers suffered 0 wins and 4 losses, that is to say, after Thomas Jr. joined the Lakers, he has not helped the team to win a game. Although Thomas Jr. is not the main reason for the Lakers' consecutive losses, his joining has indeed caused the Lakers' defensive strength to decline, and the team has suffered consecutive losses, and Thomas Jr. also needs to bear certain responsibilities.
I believe that many fans know that Thomas Jr. joined the Lakers in the first two games, his performance was praised, on the offensive end, his sense of existence is very strong, his personal play is very good, he is also very positive on the defensive end, the performance has been praised by many fans and the media, and many people feel that the Lakers should leave Thomas Jr. for a long time and make it a strong point of attack on the bench.
However, after two magical games, Thomas Jr. performed very crotchlessly in the next two games. In the last game against the Suns, Thomas Jr. shot 1 of 11 and only had 3 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists on 6-of-6 shooting. Facing the Spurs, Thomas Jr. once again handed over 1 of 5 shooting, 3 of 0 three-pointers, and only got 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. In the past two games, Thomas Jr. has scored only 5 points on 2-of-16 shooting and 0-of-9 three-point shooting, which is a very bad performance.
In the game, Thomas Jr.'s biggest advantage is on the offensive end, being able to help the team when he hits consecutive shots. However, if the offensive end is not on time, his help to the team is very small, on the contrary, his poor defense will hurt the team to a large extent. In the past two games, Thomas Jr.'s presence has been very low, he can't defend people, and he can't shoot goals, which is disappointing.
In fact, the Lakers are very good for Thomas Jr., giving him a stable playing time every game, hoping that he can create his own value. Unfortunately, Thomas Jr.'s performance disappointed the team, shooting very low in two consecutive games and a poor performance on the defensive end. As far as the current performance is concerned, Thomas Jr. is still difficult to stay in the NBA, his offensive decline is too obvious, and after the expiration of the short contract, the Lakers will most likely not leave him.