The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, an evening that saw more trade rumors about who would be in the team’s package for Anthony Davis break before the game even ended. Perhaps predictably, between players who aren’t sure if they’ll be around past Thursday and a head coach who doesn’t seem set to last much longer than the end of the season — if that — tensions are reaching a boiling point, and reportedly spilled over after the game, according to various reporters from The Athletic: As uncertainty surrounds Lakers into deadline week, several veterans -- including Michael Beasley -- had an emotionally-charged verbal exchange with head coach Luke Walton postgame tonight, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium. It stopped short of turning physical. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019 In postgame locker room, Luke Walton preached to players on playing unselfishly, sources said, when several veteran players snapped back. As one source described it, “Heated scene.” https://t.co/w7YXNeVgRl — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019 Veterans, including Beasley, JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson, challenged Walton in postgame locker room, sources said. Those involved were separated before anything escalated. https://t.co/Z99Hhh2fUL — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019 To add on here, I’m told JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley were the focus of this message and they didn’t take kindly - JaVale more than anyone. https://t.co/6phGSmLUgM — Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 3, 2019 Not the first time things have gotten heated between Walton and Beasley. They had a flare-up on the bench in Oklahoma City earlier this month. https://t.co/xWxlSvES3q — Bill Oram (@billoram) February 3, 2019 The veteran players raised their voice on topics of Walton’s playing time distribution and rotations, sources said. Hope afterward among players and coaches was that this helped cleanse issues within the team. https://t.co/NEEZ9Vyx4n — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2019 Stephenson disputed that report on Instagram and Oram said he heard he was not involved, and after a while, the originally reported events were somewhat rebutted by reporters from ESPN and the L.A. Times: Heard the same. Josh Hart, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee were frustrated and got a bit heated, but it never came close to getting physical, I’m told. https://t.co/roZ7LuthBE — Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) February 3, 2019 Source called what happened tonight: "way overhyped." Stuff like this happens in locker rooms often but Lakers are under ton of scrutiny right now. With vets on 1-year deals + young guys going through 1st trade deadline hearing their names, Lakers locker room can be tense lately https://t.co/bQ76vtfpSq — Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 3, 2019 So... That’s a lot to unpack, but let’s try to get into all of this. It would certainly be the optimistic view to imagine that something like this cleared the air for the team or was super normal, and while that’s not impossible, it would seem a lot more likely that this is the natural result when an organization spends all year leaking that their head coach isn’t their guy to every reporter with a cell phone and a Twitter account. Stuff like that makes Walton seem like a dead man walking, which hardly does wonders for his status in a locker room filled with one-year veterans known for volatile personalities that are being bandied about in trade rumors, and that’s before even getting to LeBron James’ camp (surely acting totally independently from what LeBron wants!) signaling to even more members of the media that they would prefer the Lakers change coaches. Look, I’m not saying Walton will or should be fired, and I know it’s a pain to replace a head coach midseason, but good lord is the way the Lakers have handled this disrespectful. If Walton isn’t their guy, there is no reason to keep him employed in a season that is heading down the drain quicker than Walton’s leak-soaked reputation, and doing so while continuing to have stuff like this happen is just wrong. Maybe all of this really does blow over. Maybe this was just trade deadline-fueled tension coming to a head. If things really did get sorted out from this meeting, great. But again, that would seem to be an overly optimistic view of things, even if this is anonymously sourced and we will likely never know the whole story — and Walton and the rest of the Lakers will likely downplay the significance of these events over the days to come, something we started to see tonight via those counter-leaks. However, until Walton remains as head coach heading into next year, it’s just hard for me to believe that all this scuttlebutt and rumormongering means nothing anymore, and we just saw the real consequences of it tonight. Maybe the Jason Kidd era will be different. At least when this front office has a chance to pick their guy there’s a chance the coach will get a fair shot, instead of getting tarred and feathered when it’s clear they never had a chance in the first place. This story was updated to report that Lance Stephenson was likely not involved. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.<doc-sep>All of the drama finally boiled over in the Lakers locker room on Saturday night. Amid constant trade rumors, LeBron James' injury and coach Luke Walton possibly being on the hot seat, the team's veterans reportedly had a heated exchange with Walton following their loss to the Golden State Warriors. According to Shams Charania's report, the incident did not turn physical, but featured numerous veterans, including Michael Beasley, yelling at Walton. The incident came shortly after the Lakers, who were once again playing without LeBron James, blew a second-half lead to the Warriors. Per the report, the veterans took offense to Walton's speech about playing unselfishly. Down by double digits early, the Lakers turned things around to take a nine-point lead in the third quarter. But by the end of the frame, the Warriors were back in front and they pulled away in the fourth to secure a 115-101 victory. Over the past week, pretty much the entire roster has been the subject of trade rumors, as the Lakers enhanced their pursuit of Anthony Davis. The Pelicans big man publicly declared that he wants a trade, and the Lakers are at the forefront of the pursuit, with mutual interest from Davis. Additionally, there have been reports that LeBron James' camp is not too subtle about the fact that they want Walton out as coach. On top of that, the team has struggled in recent weeks without LeBron, who returned on Thursday night in their win over the Clippers, but sat out on Saturday to rest. All of that is a lot for a team to deal with, and it appears everyone had to let out a little steam after a tough loss. Without being in the locker room, it's tough to know how serious the incident was or how much it will affect the team moving forward. Regardless, the Lakers are not in a good place right now.<doc-sep>
Following a loss to the Golden State Warriors Saturday night, a few veterans reportedly had some pointed words for Luke Walton after growing frustrated with the lack of clarity in their roles on the team. Afterwards, Lance Stephenson took to social media to say he wasn’t involved and on Tuesday, right before the Lakers tipped off against the Indiana Pacers, Michael Beasley released a statement to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, while JaVale McGee straight-up denied the incident: “This past Saturday after the Warriors game, Coach Walton and our team had a conversation after a tough loss. Despite reports to the contrary, there was nothing physical between Coach Walton, me, or any other teammate,” Beasley said. “I’ve sat back in the past when stories have been twisted and misreported, but I won’t do that this time. I respect Luke and I respect this team. We are trying to win a championship together.” It was also reported that center JaVale McGee was involved in a combative verbal exchange directed at Walton, but McGee told Yahoo Sports that was “fake news.” After shootaround Tuesday, Walton also addressed the situation. Here's the full quote from Luke Walton about the reports of postgame confrontation after losing to Golden State pic.twitter.com/NTm8KmxWZo — Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 5, 2019 So, a couple things: Using the phrase “Fake News” only make you look more guilty of whatever it is you are accused of. Using that phrase unironically is never a good look. Just my two cents. Beasley and Walton’s approach to moving on from this little bit of drama is the correct one to take. They are both mature enough to address whatever happened, and as such are likely mature enough to leave it in the past. Over the course of an 82-game season, these things happen all the time. The exchange being made public is a lot more unusual than the exchange itself. If the involved parties got their message across and everyone listened properly, chances are the Lakers will be better off from this whole thing. What the Lakers couldn’t afford was allowing these concerns to fester and eventually blow up after passing a point of no return. The Lakers have games to focus on and a spot in the postseason to fight for. Actually playing basketball will be a nice and welcomed distraction from all the rumors, speculation and drama that’s engulfed the organization as of late. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.