Yahoo Sports<\/a>, where the situation around the canceled plans was discussed. The context reveals how seriously LeBron is taking the current stretch of the season.<\/p>\nSmith said, \u201cIt\u2019s funny because he texted the group chat, because it was in Dallas when he was playing, and we were supposed to play golf.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Man, I can\u2019t play golf, I got too much on my shoulders right now. If this were five years ago, I would definitely play.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
The comment makes it clear that LeBron is fully locked in, prioritizing the team\u2019s situation over everything else.<\/p>\n
LeBron James is carrying the LA Lakers amid Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves injuries<\/p>\n
The reason behind that mindset becomes obvious when looking at the Lakers\u2019 current situation.<\/p>\n
With both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined due to injuries, LeBron has been forced into an even bigger role as the team\u2019s primary creator and leader during a crucial stretch of the season.<\/p>\n
Smith added, \u201cBut it\u2019s tough, man. It\u2019s always next man up mentality, so I\u2019m excited to see who can possibly step up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
The quote reflects both the challenge and the expectation within the squad, as others are now required to contribute while LeBron continues to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility.<\/p>\n
At this stage of his career, moments like these underline just how much the Lakers still rely on him, even when the odds are stacked against them.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James turned down a planned golf outing with former teammate JR Smith, highlighting just how much pressure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[11654,8174,1062,253211,3013,1055,3014,355,253212,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-575918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-jr-smith","12":"tag-lebron-james","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-play-golf","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e6d5c6eb1913c5e17d21cfbb97096a4b.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n