"You was at home a year and half ago" - Lakers' LeBron James tells off Phoenix Suns' Cameron Payne during in-game verbal spat

During the LA Lakers' loss to the Phoenix Suns at home, LeBron James got into a verbal spat with Cameron Payne from the sidelines. Following trash talk from the 27-year-old guard, LeBron decided to put him in his place by reminding him of his recent career slump in 2019.

The courtside comments captured James asking Payne to stay humble:

"You was at your crib a year and a half ago, quit talking you sh** now. Stay Humble! You was at home a year and a half ago, now you wanna pop off.", sounded off LeBron from courtside.

Certainly LeBron did his research before going off on the youngster. It is true that Cam indeed hit rock bottom in his NBA career when he ended up with Chinese team, Shanxi Loongs, after the Toronto Raptors released him in October of 2019.

Before signing with the Phoenix Suns in June 2020, Payne also spent some time with the Texas Legends (G-League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks). It was fairly recently that Cameron Payne's career took a turn for the better, but James made sure it didn't get to his head so soon.

Can the Lakers take care of their emotional side and reach their full potential?

Howard and Davis got involved in a scuffle that was played down during postgame interviews.

The visible scuffle between Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard on the sidelines was not a standalone event representing the dysfunctional Lakers locker room. The Lakers have lost both of their first two games convincingly, despite carrying a stacked roster on paper.

Not only are they looking out of touch, the players seem more focussed on crying over foul calls and trash talking, than playing winning basketball.

Although things are as ugly as they can be, veterans possess the ability to turn the tide in due course of time. As leaders of the team, LeBron James and Anthony Davis will make sure that the moving parts fall in line and nothing comes in their way of a championship.

Only time will tell if drastic steps will be needed to recaliberate the roster, but for now the purple-and-gold should focus on building chemistry and getting back in the winning column.