James Worthy rips Lakers after loss to Blazers: 'This is the lowest point of just about any season'
The Los Angeles Lakers may have hit rock bottom in what has been widely regarded as their worst loss in a trying season.
Just hours before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, the Lakers sleepwalked through a 107-105 loss Wednesday night to a depleted version of the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers traded CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, a 2022 protected first-round pick and two second-round picks. None of the newcomers dressed for the Blazers, and they also were missing Damian Lillard. The six-time All-Star has not played since Dec. 31 because of an abdominal issue that required surgery.
Former Lakers great James Worthy didn’t hold back in his criticism of the Lakers afterward.
"This is the lowest point of just about any season I’ve seen as a Laker over the years," Worthy said on Spectrum SportsNet. "I don’t have any words for it because we’ve used all our words."
The Lakers fell to 26-30 and have dropped seven of their past 10 games. They are No. 9 in the Western Conference. If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would have to come out of the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.
"We saw Milwaukee come in and we thought that maybe, okay, that’ll be a measuring game against a good team and we saw what happened. And then against Portland, a team of professional players but it was almost like they were playing against local YMCA pickup group of guys," Worthy said. "And I think it just goes to show you how deeply mentally disconnected and the inability to fire your brain up for game that you know you should win or for any game for that matter shows that there’s a really tough virus going on with this team right now and I don’t know what the medicine is."
Anfernee Simons scored 29 points and Portland snapped a six-game losing streak.
Dennis Smith's behind-the-back pass to Trendon Watford for the basket put the Blazers up 89-82 with 8:41 left. The Lakers rebounded and briefly pulled in front 96-95 on LeBron James' layup. But Simons' 3-pointer gave the Blazers a 102-98 lead with 2:41 left.
After James' dunk, Simons made another 3 that put Portland up 105-100. James' layup got the Lakers within three points with 27.8 second on the clock but Simons made a pair free throws — and James' 3-pointer at the buzzer wasn't enough.
James took responsibility for the team's 21 turnovers, which led to 28 Portland points and were particularly damaging down the stretch.
James said the trade deadline may have something to do with the Lakers’ trouble, telling reporters, "Obviously this is something that’s weighing on this group that we’re all trying to get through. Almost feels like it’s a fog, just fog in the air. And we’re all trying to see what’s on the other side of it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.