LeBron James, Kevin Durant Weigh In On Controversial End To Lakers-Suns Tournament Game

The Los Angeles Lakers play really great football in the In-Season Tournament. They are coming off of a good win against the Phoenix Suns. LeBron James and Kevin Durant did well on the basketball court and their game was fire.

The Lakers had a 15-lead at one point of the game, but NBA analysts would say the game was chaotic. Refs gave Austin Reaves a timeout as he fell to the ground with his team having a two-point lead. The ball was supposed to go in the hands of Suns players.

LeBron voiced his opinion on the timeout.

“I was able to hit AR. And I felt [Devin Booker] kind of pushed up on a little bit, kind of made AR stumble,” LeBron said after the game on December 5. “As soon as I seen AR start to stumble a little bit, I started to make the notion and the voice to the referee that was closest to me for a timeout.

“After that … I heard the commotion. The ball was loose, whatever the case may be. But my direction was right towards the referee to get us a timeout for sure.”

Durant and LeBron provided a different comment, Booker voices his displeasure

Booker finished the night with 21 points. He had something to say as well and even shared a video, voicing his concerns.

Devin Booker’s IG Story. pic.twitter.com/Coz1J25oJ0

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 6, 2023

“The whole world seen it,” said Booker. “I just got off social media and other players around the league seen it. So it is what it is. Refs miss calls sometimes. But when they’re a bit that obvious it’s tough.”

Durant took a different approach. His team lost the game and there is nothing he could do about it. It is a sealed deal. Durant did admit that this was just one game in the night.

“I couldn’t really see the ball being out,” Durant said. “I still thought he had it. But then looked at the replay, it was out a little bit. But that’s not the game, that’s one play. It’s a 48-minute game and like I don’t like complaining about calls.”

Booker didn’t stop here. He mentioned the uncalled foul on Reaves.

“I stopped, my hands are back, Reeves tried to draw a foul,” said Booker. “And once we bumped into each other, I think he was trying to get the ball back since then. That’s a good three four five seconds to build up before LeBron grabbed the referee and called the timeout.”

It’s always team effort. This goes to both wins and losses. Everyone is involved and players have to try better.

“[The] ref ain’t gonna get it right all the time,” Durant said. “Sometimes it’s on us to play through all of that stuff and not worry about putting the game in the ref hands. … I mean it is what it is though. We can’t put ourselves in that position.”