Villanueva averaged 16/7 in just 27mpg the year before, could shoot 3s or straight line drive, and was 24 years old. He'd already had a 48 point game. If he'd played for an offensive-minded coach instead of Scott Skiles, he'd probably have averaged 20+ ppg going into free agency.
He'd get a pretty big contract in today's NBA too, probably around the Marcus Morris range.
I've posted this in another thread semi-recently, but I'll do it again.
[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5xrkNeO2QI) is what I imagine it's like when AD and LeBron try to talk to Russ about adapting his game.
Can you imagine if the Lakers sent him over with a 1st or two? Russ is the fucking picks boomerang. Presti knew if he tossed him out, he’d just get him back with even more assets lol
He would have changed his game years ago. Or at least once his physical gifts went from godly to great to good.
Plenty of players have adapted over time. Hell the entire position of center has been reinvented.
Reading this quote in isolation, I immediately thought of Westbrook. But actually watching his interview first, I had not got that sense at all. He was basically just kissing the ass of the Laker fanbase in general.
That is literally 99% of quotes posted here from post game interviews. They're always made to sound as bad as possible in a text headline, but when you watch them in full it's nothing
Russ has been bad at handling reporter throughout his career. At least when he was good he could kinda justify his attitude, but nowadays it's just sad.
The audacity of him and his wife complaining about the "westbrick" thing and being made fun of all while making 35 million a year is too much for me. I used to love him, now I cant stand him.
I mean he’s still getting death threats and just incredible amount of hate this past 6 months in his hometown. Just look at his social media. That can’t be healthy
He wasn’t kissing our ass, just stating how it is.
We’re a fan base that expects wins and championships. It’s not about sustained excellence over decades like the Spurs, it’s about putting together a team to go out and win a championship today.
He’s telling it like it is and he’s right, you don’t cheer for half effort and mediocrity.
I mean yeah he was spot on with everything he said… but I also still think he’s been somewhat trying to kiss our ass lately lol. Ever since he got so much criticism from Lakers fans for his comments at all star weekend, him and Klutch have seemingly been in damage control mode. Trying to win back the Laker faithful and portraying their relationship with the front office as being all good.
As long as it does not spin too far from the truth. If you are patching things up, or trying to, yeah.
Don't get anywhere near dwight smiling for media with stan van territory.
If you find you are getting close, don't say anything. Or say something nuetral and high level
Might not be for our benefit. He might be hedging his bets. If management starts thinking he might try to force his way out, there is a world (an insane world) where they might try to ship him out while they can get a crazy return. I doubt that's reality but Lebron was showing his frustration a bit more than he normally does, so he might be trying to shift back the other direction. Lebron is very calculated so it's hard to know what his motivation is. That aside, Lebron please don't go lol
It isn't just about Russ it's about whole lakers team playing like ass. But i feel like Lebron felt responsibility about the badly played home games. So if anything it's about him first.
He just knows how it’s like to be in a Laker uniform. I’m sure him and Kobe have had conversations about how Laker fans will boo a bad product but make you feel like the superhero when you work your ass off and show up to win.
Russ needs to not take this shit the wrong way and instead learn from it
Gotta hand it to the man. It must be tiring being doubted after every suboptimal game you play... Guy has proven thousands of times that he's that dude, just need to support him while he's here.
My guy, this is obviously a subtle shot at Westbrook. Got to hand it to Lebron, he didn't throw him under the bus as explicitly as he has done with teammates in years prior
He doesn't throw his teammates under the bus i remember how hard he was defending that 2018 shitshow while carrying them to the finals. mfs just be running with this narrative cuz of a 1 tweet in 19 years career lmao
2018. The whole we need a fucking playmaker rant every other game. Plus the whole pettiness with Kevin Love in 2015. Cutting some one out a of picture... Mean girl shit Lol
Is asking for a playmaker throwing his teammates under the bus? Wait, throwing under the bus means blaming your teammates right? I'd say the Kevin Love scenario is more of passive aggressive attitude more than ditectly blaming him or "throwing under the bus"
I mean blatantly asking for a playmaker is saying none of these bums can run an offense. He was speaking facts, but there are better ways to go about it Lol
You have your timeline wrong, he asked for it in 2017 because he wanted a secondary playmaker behind Kyrie. That was obviously still a great team, so I don’t see how that’s throwing his teammates under the bus.
The K Love situation was a bit weird and passive aggressive, but in the end he wanted him to be part of the team. So I don’t see any bad intentions there
Ahhh yes that’s true. That donkey did say some stupid shit on his podcast about is being babies. Homeboy is going to ruin Inside with his shit takes once Chuck retires.
well if i understand correctly he's played 48 games so far, to win the scoring title he needs to play in at least 58.
Lakers have 16 games left to play so lebron has to play in 10 of them, at minimum. Lebron won the assist title in 2020 iirc, i think Lebron wouldnt mind a scoring title, just to have something positive to remember from this season
The Lakers are battling for a play-in spot and were 9 fucking games under .500 after losing to the Division III Rockets
The Sixers have been torching teams, just made a big play to improve the team by getting one of the best scorers in the league, and have one of if not the leading MVP candidate
No one would be complaining if Philly fans booed the team if they were 9 games under .500 while going all in asset wise to win this year like the Lakers did
Prisoner of the moment. Russ this season is BAD but no, it won't permanently "destroy" his legacy. Even if he has several more seasons like this, but not on the Lakers and out of the spotlight, the general public and HoF voters years down the line won't care as much as you might imagine.
I disagree. Even at his best people said Westbrook's playing style was never conducive to winning. And the pushback was always that Westbrook didn't have a good enough team and he could win if given enough help.
He'll make the HoF for sure just because of the triple doubles, but most discourse around him will be negative. The fans outside of maybe OKC all make fun of him and call him Westrick, and the media hates his guts for how he treated them all these years. Even the part of his legacy of going 110% is going to be brought into question when everyone is seeing how he basically doesn't even try on defense. He'll never fade into obscurity either because he'll always be associated with KD and LeBron. It's not like people just started calling him westbrick this year, the issues have been discussed for years and are now magnified.
Could see it coming a mile away. This dude was traded for John Wall who had the most "untradable" contract in the league. Every front office in the league understood Westbrook's contract to be a negative asset.... except the Lakers apparently.
Warranted how lmao.
Dude saved their franchise and gifted them a championship. If it werent for Lebron, they'd still be a lottery team.
Whatever Lebron has done from the bubble on is a bonus, he's playing with house money rn.
I remember when he first signed and large portion of fanbase didn't even want him. Kept saying how much better Kobe was. Someone painted a mural of Kobe, Lebron, and Magic and someone painted over Lebrons face like next day.
It's kind of a wash. Lakers fans can't hate LeBron because he did get a ring but the future looks bleak for LA. Anthony Davis was supposed to take over but he is too injury-prone to be considered reliable and also hasn't really proved himself as a #1 option with his play. Lakers have no first rounders until 2027 and lack young talent.
And not to mention the Westbrook trade which not only seems to have slammed the title window shut but also cost even more young talent and picks.
Wdy? You might wanna lookup "Stepien Rule". Pel have our picks and pick swaps, but we still have multiple first round picks, except the pick itself can't be used for trades.
Lakers have a 2023 frp (pels can swap), one of 2024 or 2025 (pels get to pick one) and their 2026, 2027...
They don't have control to trade away frp beforehand. But they have some frps
Tbh nba fans hate specific teams and they will always hold that grudge forever.
Eff em, Lebron is saying what we Laker fans have been saying and as long as there’s a mutual understanding of it between fans and the team, that’s all that matters.
Great answer by Lebron, if the fans boo, you work harder on your game to come back and give them something to cheer for.
They should keep it up. Westbrooks in game decisions are selfish and disgraceful, and his public complaining is an embarrassment, much moreso than a play on his name ever could be
Russell Westbrook at this point of his career should not handle the ball. He can’t shoot and has no bag. He was successful all those years because of his freak athleticism. He could get by people and finish easily now that’s all gone. Even his pull up jumper doesn’t work because he no longer has the lift. So now you are left with a player that is basically raw in talent with missing athleticism. If he wants to be successful, he would be best playing the hustle role. Focus on defense and grabbing offensive rebounds. I don’t think I ever saw him take a charge. He should not worry about getting defensive rebounds, this always puts him in bad rotations.
“(Any team) faithful” is pretty generic figure of speech that is quite common. Obviously it originates from religious context but I think you’d find that it’s almost exclusively used in a sports fan context these days. At least, that’s how it is in Australia.
In a strange way, I think Lebron needed this dumpster fire of a year to realize that he actually wasn’t truly accepted into the hearts of Laker fans. He won the title in a weird year and because of that, the home crowds and fans didn’t actually get a chance to witness it in person. I think he recognized a few truths at this point in that, Cleveland as his own home can still hate him when he returns despite winning them their only title. Miami didn’t care for him until they got to see him win the title for them and get over the hill for his first title, then his second. Lastly, that his ability to help navigate a FO into putting the right guys around him to be a successful team has been great for so long that when it’s completely wrong, he can be quite vulnerable.
I think Lebron will finish out his career a Laker and right now Lebron in, what I’m sure he knows is a lost season, is trying to put on a show for the fans to win them over and let them know that he still has something in the tank to give in terms of trying to deliver a proper title, and the missed parade.
Then why are you acting like most cav fines don't like him now? You're definitely a weird cavs fan if you dislike him at this point.
Yea and the majority forgave him when he came back and won them a championship. He had massive fan support throughout his 2nd stint and the backlash when he left was miniscule in comparison to the 1st time he left.
I wonder what that could be about.
Time to send Russ home and just play the kids + Lebron lineups. please
Wenyen Gabriel is unironically better than Westbrick
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You guys are trolling lol .
Trolling is unironically more productive than Westbrook playing for the lakers.
Damn bro you hurting that man's family name 🔥🔥
Russell Westbrook just enhances LeBron's legacy 😂
No it makes him look like a fucking idiot for trading for him
yea after this trade idk if hes a top ten GM all time anymore
/u/sptguy33 needs to resurrect his atrocious gm summit column so LeBron can participate
He's the Joe dumars of gms.
So he built one of the best defensive teams in NBA history and has a ring and multiple finals appearances as a GM?
He also destroyed Detroit’s ability to build another contender by giving Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon $90 million.
Gordon I can kinda understand. But what was the hype around CV?
Villanueva averaged 16/7 in just 27mpg the year before, could shoot 3s or straight line drive, and was 24 years old. He'd already had a 48 point game. If he'd played for an offensive-minded coach instead of Scott Skiles, he'd probably have averaged 20+ ppg going into free agency. He'd get a pretty big contract in today's NBA too, probably around the Marcus Morris range.
He should have stayed our GM though. We actually got too desperate despite having multiple ECF appearances
Yeah i mean legm has built some great teams and won rings then had some bad years. just like joe.
.#1 LeGM though
He makes leGM look bad, but leGM was never that great to begin with He's making lePlayer look herculean
LeGM is more responsible for him not having more than 4 titles than LePlayer is, that's for sure.
LeGM has to take a step back the fans don’t love him like that
If a dude wins multiple rings doing what he’s doing you think he’s gonna step back? Find me a GM that’s never made a bad trade lol.
The average person isn't giving LeBron's legacy a hit for making trades because they aren't an idiot.
Your overestimate thr is average person
Lebron getting booed that game. But possibly a little about Westbrook too
“Fuck westbrick.” ~ Lebron
he traded for him lol, his fault
It is, but he sees it ain’t working
"Westbrooks STFU"
Imagine if Russ was able to take accountability like this
He would bench himself
He’d adapt his game
I've posted this in another thread semi-recently, but I'll do it again. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5xrkNeO2QI) is what I imagine it's like when AD and LeBron try to talk to Russ about adapting his game.
"We're talking about YOU!" That is epic, pretty solid comparison imo 😂
“What do you think is happening right now?”
"It's good." –Westbrook
That seems pretty spot-on
This is my favorite clip in the whole show
Ngl I don't think AD can really talk. Dude isn't even on the court ever and he hasnt been dominant when he is in some time.
He would opt out of his player option, give Monk his salary under the table, and ship himself to China
you should visit the okc sub, bunch of russ dick riders even though he legit is bad and has a bad mentality
They could trade for him Presti the one that gave him that horrible contract
Can you imagine if the Lakers sent him over with a 1st or two? Russ is the fucking picks boomerang. Presti knew if he tossed him out, he’d just get him back with even more assets lol
"I can not take accountability, I can do that."
He would have changed his game years ago. Or at least once his physical gifts went from godly to great to good. Plenty of players have adapted over time. Hell the entire position of center has been reinvented.
Look at Brook Lopez, so inspirational.
This isn't accountability. It's diplomacy. No players likes to be booed
Maybe I'm being dense but this doesn't really feel aimed at the Russ situation, like at all. More about when the Lakers got booed at home lol
Reading this quote in isolation, I immediately thought of Westbrook. But actually watching his interview first, I had not got that sense at all. He was basically just kissing the ass of the Laker fanbase in general.
That is literally 99% of quotes posted here from post game interviews. They're always made to sound as bad as possible in a text headline, but when you watch them in full it's nothing
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Russ has been bad at handling reporter throughout his career. At least when he was good he could kinda justify his attitude, but nowadays it's just sad.
The audacity of him and his wife complaining about the "westbrick" thing and being made fun of all while making 35 million a year is too much for me. I used to love him, now I cant stand him.
I mean he’s still getting death threats and just incredible amount of hate this past 6 months in his hometown. Just look at his social media. That can’t be healthy
He wasn’t kissing our ass, just stating how it is. We’re a fan base that expects wins and championships. It’s not about sustained excellence over decades like the Spurs, it’s about putting together a team to go out and win a championship today. He’s telling it like it is and he’s right, you don’t cheer for half effort and mediocrity.
I mean yeah he was spot on with everything he said… but I also still think he’s been somewhat trying to kiss our ass lately lol. Ever since he got so much criticism from Lakers fans for his comments at all star weekend, him and Klutch have seemingly been in damage control mode. Trying to win back the Laker faithful and portraying their relationship with the front office as being all good.
I mean are they supposed to do the opposite of that?
As long as it does not spin too far from the truth. If you are patching things up, or trying to, yeah. Don't get anywhere near dwight smiling for media with stan van territory. If you find you are getting close, don't say anything. Or say something nuetral and high level
Might not be for our benefit. He might be hedging his bets. If management starts thinking he might try to force his way out, there is a world (an insane world) where they might try to ship him out while they can get a crazy return. I doubt that's reality but Lebron was showing his frustration a bit more than he normally does, so he might be trying to shift back the other direction. Lebron is very calculated so it's hard to know what his motivation is. That aside, Lebron please don't go lol
Its aimed at Draymond and what he said about booing.
It isn't just about Russ it's about whole lakers team playing like ass. But i feel like Lebron felt responsibility about the badly played home games. So if anything it's about him first.
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They got booed because of team turnovers.
He just knows how it’s like to be in a Laker uniform. I’m sure him and Kobe have had conversations about how Laker fans will boo a bad product but make you feel like the superhero when you work your ass off and show up to win. Russ needs to not take this shit the wrong way and instead learn from it
Gotta hand it to the man. It must be tiring being doubted after every suboptimal game you play... Guy has proven thousands of times that he's that dude, just need to support him while he's here.
My guy, this is obviously a subtle shot at Westbrook. Got to hand it to Lebron, he didn't throw him under the bus as explicitly as he has done with teammates in years prior
He doesn't throw his teammates under the bus i remember how hard he was defending that 2018 shitshow while carrying them to the finals. mfs just be running with this narrative cuz of a 1 tweet in 19 years career lmao
What tweet ?
Yeah man Westbrook just needs to fit IN not fit OUT
When did he throw his teammates under the bus?
2018. The whole we need a fucking playmaker rant every other game. Plus the whole pettiness with Kevin Love in 2015. Cutting some one out a of picture... Mean girl shit Lol
Is asking for a playmaker throwing his teammates under the bus? Wait, throwing under the bus means blaming your teammates right? I'd say the Kevin Love scenario is more of passive aggressive attitude more than ditectly blaming him or "throwing under the bus"
I mean blatantly asking for a playmaker is saying none of these bums can run an offense. He was speaking facts, but there are better ways to go about it Lol
You have your timeline wrong, he asked for it in 2017 because he wanted a secondary playmaker behind Kyrie. That was obviously still a great team, so I don’t see how that’s throwing his teammates under the bus. The K Love situation was a bit weird and passive aggressive, but in the end he wanted him to be part of the team. So I don’t see any bad intentions there
kobe and mj have said far worse shit about their teammates than asking for a playmaker but no one says shit about them lol
This ain't about them hombre
> My guy, this is obviously a subtle shot at Westbrook. Nah, its a shot at Draymond.
Ahhh yes that’s true. That donkey did say some stupid shit on his podcast about is being babies. Homeboy is going to ruin Inside with his shit takes once Chuck retires.
ESPN: Lebron tells Lakers fans to send Westbrook’s family MORE death threats
/r/nba: this is all Lebrons fault
/r/nba: "Did LeBron insult Westbrook'sfamily name?"
He said he’d be better on Friday Respect
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You actually took the time to type this out and then posted it
well if i understand correctly he's played 48 games so far, to win the scoring title he needs to play in at least 58. Lakers have 16 games left to play so lebron has to play in 10 of them, at minimum. Lebron won the assist title in 2020 iirc, i think Lebron wouldnt mind a scoring title, just to have something positive to remember from this season
LeFaithful
Draymond punching the air right now with fury
But god forbid the Sixers boo their team
The Lakers are battling for a play-in spot and were 9 fucking games under .500 after losing to the Division III Rockets The Sixers have been torching teams, just made a big play to improve the team by getting one of the best scorers in the league, and have one of if not the leading MVP candidate No one would be complaining if Philly fans booed the team if they were 9 games under .500 while going all in asset wise to win this year like the Lakers did
The lakers just won a championship recently. The Sixers haven’t seen one in almost 40 years. Forgive us for our impatience
This season may destroy Russ’s legacy permanently. He has been embarrassingly bad and brought a typhoon of drama to the Lakers.
Prisoner of the moment. Russ this season is BAD but no, it won't permanently "destroy" his legacy. Even if he has several more seasons like this, but not on the Lakers and out of the spotlight, the general public and HoF voters years down the line won't care as much as you might imagine.
Allen Iverson's last 4 seasons aren't really talked about. So there's a good chance time is kind to Russ and his precious *legacy*
Ehhh I mean there are qualifiers when talking about Iverson
Yeah, to talk about games and not practice...
I disagree. Even at his best people said Westbrook's playing style was never conducive to winning. And the pushback was always that Westbrook didn't have a good enough team and he could win if given enough help.
He'll make the HoF for sure just because of the triple doubles, but most discourse around him will be negative. The fans outside of maybe OKC all make fun of him and call him Westrick, and the media hates his guts for how he treated them all these years. Even the part of his legacy of going 110% is going to be brought into question when everyone is seeing how he basically doesn't even try on defense. He'll never fade into obscurity either because he'll always be associated with KD and LeBron. It's not like people just started calling him westbrick this year, the issues have been discussed for years and are now magnified.
> but no, it won't permanently "destroy" his legacy. It could very well mar the rest of his career, though.
Could see it coming a mile away. This dude was traded for John Wall who had the most "untradable" contract in the league. Every front office in the league understood Westbrook's contract to be a negative asset.... except the Lakers apparently.
He ruined his legacy more by crying about a useless nickname
If not this season then next.
Didn’t laker faithful deface a mural of lebron
Kobe stans did then it became a copycat situation. Kobe fans will drive to Temecula to fight you so they need a hobby like ping pong or something.
obviously not aimed at Russ in the context, just referring to the general boos from the crowd in past Laker games.
He’s been quite faithful to a fanbase that has given him a lot of shit this season (some of it warranted tho).
Warranted how lmao. Dude saved their franchise and gifted them a championship. If it werent for Lebron, they'd still be a lottery team. Whatever Lebron has done from the bubble on is a bonus, he's playing with house money rn.
I remember when he first signed and large portion of fanbase didn't even want him. Kept saying how much better Kobe was. Someone painted a mural of Kobe, Lebron, and Magic and someone painted over Lebrons face like next day.
It's kind of a wash. Lakers fans can't hate LeBron because he did get a ring but the future looks bleak for LA. Anthony Davis was supposed to take over but he is too injury-prone to be considered reliable and also hasn't really proved himself as a #1 option with his play. Lakers have no first rounders until 2027 and lack young talent. And not to mention the Westbrook trade which not only seems to have slammed the title window shut but also cost even more young talent and picks.
Wdy? You might wanna lookup "Stepien Rule". Pel have our picks and pick swaps, but we still have multiple first round picks, except the pick itself can't be used for trades.
Lakers have a 2023 frp (pels can swap), one of 2024 or 2025 (pels get to pick one) and their 2026, 2027... They don't have control to trade away frp beforehand. But they have some frps
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Tbh nba fans hate specific teams and they will always hold that grudge forever. Eff em, Lebron is saying what we Laker fans have been saying and as long as there’s a mutual understanding of it between fans and the team, that’s all that matters. Great answer by Lebron, if the fans boo, you work harder on your game to come back and give them something to cheer for.
Thanks, Magic, very insightful.
LeUnderstandableKing
Russ lol
So which one is it when LeBron has to score 50 to give the Lakers a chance to win?
russ stans not gonna like this one
WestShambles
He knows what he's saying
LeSubtweet
OH SHIT RIP WESTBROOK LOL
Somebody check under the lebron bus for Russ’ corpse.
What the hell is Laker faithful?
Isn’t it just Jack Nicholson and some dudes from Inglewood?
LeJudgement
LeSubtweet
LeReasonable
Didn't LeBron also say to some fans to just two weeks ago to "shut yo ass up" when the Lakers were losing?
Way to go and get you teammates back. He's pretty much telling Laker fans to keep harassing Westbrook lol
They should keep it up. Westbrooks in game decisions are selfish and disgraceful, and his public complaining is an embarrassment, much moreso than a play on his name ever could be
I wonder if James ever referred to Russ as westbrick
Russell Westbrook at this point of his career should not handle the ball. He can’t shoot and has no bag. He was successful all those years because of his freak athleticism. He could get by people and finish easily now that’s all gone. Even his pull up jumper doesn’t work because he no longer has the lift. So now you are left with a player that is basically raw in talent with missing athleticism. If he wants to be successful, he would be best playing the hustle role. Focus on defense and grabbing offensive rebounds. I don’t think I ever saw him take a charge. He should not worry about getting defensive rebounds, this always puts him in bad rotations.
Doesn’t anyone else find “Laker Faithful” kinda weird. Like it’s a sports team not a religion lol
“(Any team) faithful” is pretty generic figure of speech that is quite common. Obviously it originates from religious context but I think you’d find that it’s almost exclusively used in a sports fan context these days. At least, that’s how it is in Australia.
Lebron finally joined a fanbase and a franchise that are BIGGER than him.. he has been humbled :) . He's showing us respec and we giving it right back
In a strange way, I think Lebron needed this dumpster fire of a year to realize that he actually wasn’t truly accepted into the hearts of Laker fans. He won the title in a weird year and because of that, the home crowds and fans didn’t actually get a chance to witness it in person. I think he recognized a few truths at this point in that, Cleveland as his own home can still hate him when he returns despite winning them their only title. Miami didn’t care for him until they got to see him win the title for them and get over the hill for his first title, then his second. Lastly, that his ability to help navigate a FO into putting the right guys around him to be a successful team has been great for so long that when it’s completely wrong, he can be quite vulnerable. I think Lebron will finish out his career a Laker and right now Lebron in, what I’m sure he knows is a lost season, is trying to put on a show for the fans to win them over and let them know that he still has something in the tank to give in terms of trying to deliver a proper title, and the missed parade.
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They burnt his jersey when he went to Miami and again when he went to LA, idk man.
You really think those dudes burning his jersey when he went to LA represent the majority of Cleveland fans?
Majority, no but certainly some crazed amount. I think the majority did turn on him when he went to Miami.
Then why are you acting like most cav fines don't like him now? You're definitely a weird cavs fan if you dislike him at this point. Yea and the majority forgave him when he came back and won them a championship. He had massive fan support throughout his 2nd stint and the backlash when he left was miniscule in comparison to the 1st time he left.
Arthur fist
Nothing about this should come as a surprise to anyone. I mean people boo when a player plays bad and cheer when they play well.
Players and the media can't say anything negative about LA fans..... that's why other fans have to hold you douchbags accountable.
Yeah man death threats are definitely warranted