LeBron Wasted No Time Throwing Russell Westbrook Under The Bus While Talking About How Disappointed He Was That The Lakers Didn't Land Kyrie Irving

Kevork Djansezian. Getty Images.

After the Kyrie news broke, it was clear LeBron was deep in his feelings. I'm sure he expected it to be a done deal after it became known that Kyrie wanted to go to LA so when it didn't happen, LeBron went the usual cryptic tweet route

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As you can also expect, he did an interview about it (and some other things) and he talked about this situation like only LeBron could. He basically threw Russell Westbrook under the bus

Imagine being on the Lakers roster right now and hearing this? I guess maybe when you're on a team with LeBron you already accept that he's going to be willing to trade you no matter what if he thinks he can bring in better teammates, but now that the Lakers struck out on Kyrie, how exactly is this going to go over in that locker room? 

"Don't worry guys, I basically think the majority of you stink and wanted you traded for Kyrie, especially you Russ, but since that didn't happen I'm back to being committed to this group! We can do it!"

Part of me thinks he's talking this way because he knows there's a Westbrook deal out there and he won't have to worry about it but look at how quickly things change

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Whoops! If there isn't a Russ deal on the horizon, I can't imagine things will be all rainbows and lollipops in the Lakers locker room. Things already haven't been all that great, so I can't see how LeBron going on ESPN talking about how upset he was they didn't trade for Kyrie helps. Maybe use this opportunity to rally and inspire the players who are still on your roster instead? Are we sitting Devin Booker down and asking his feelings about not trading CP3 for Kyrie? Is anyone asking Kawhi if he's upset the Clippers didn't land him? It's just very strange, but when you publicly campaign for it like LeBron did, I suppose you have to answer to it.

Here's the thing, nothing LeBron said is a lie! The Lakers do have a better chance at a ring with Kyrie than Russ. I'm sure he was bummed out they didn't pull off that trade. I just don't think you say the quiet part out loud to a TV camera. On what planet would any of his teammates (especially Russ) buy that LeBron actually now believes in the current group of talent despite very clearly not believing in it 24 hours ago. Does that mean he's now going to stop the Lakers from trading Russ? Of course not! You would think if he was focused on this group now and making the postseason that he would now want to keep them together, but we all know that's not the case.

This is the beauty of the NBA Trade deadline. We have monster trades like yesterday. We have teams leveraging the market by making up rumors, we have Furkan Korkmaz now demanding trades like anyone gives a shit, and now we have LeBron literally going on TV and throwing his teammates under the bus so he can talk about how upset he was the Lakers didn't trade for his friend.

The fact that it's only Monday and we have 3 more days of this has me so excited. There's nothing like the NBA trade deadline. It's the absolute best.