When LeBron James took the podium for his postgame press conference after the Lakers lost to the Clippers 119-115, the outcome of the game was almost inconsequential.

Since this was his first media availability, since he erased the NBA’s health and safety protocols shortly after his positive test in Sacramento was ruled a false positive, there were no prizes for guessing what they were going to be about. the first questions.

James was placed in the league’s health and safety protocols before the team’s game against the Kings on Tuesday (ET). However, after the false positive, he returned multiple negative tests that led to him being removed from the protocols.

“Quite confused, frustrated, angry about not being able to do anything.” James said after the game regarding the last days.

Calling him ‘unfortunate’ that a player is put into isolation the moment he returns a positive test, even if it is a false positive, James believed that The whole situation was handled pretty badly.

That false positive forced James to miss the team’s game against the Kings. So instead of playing his fourth game in a row, which would have been the season high, he missed the twelfth game of a possible 23 (now 24).

“It has been a very challenging year to start,” James said about constantly being in and out of alignment. He added that he felt like he was getting into ‘very very good rhythm’ before the Kings game.

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Coming into the Clippers showdown, playing their first game since Sunday against Detroit, James’ rust showed. Although he filled the stat sheet with 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals, he shot 9 of 23 from the field, including 2 of 8 from beyond the arc and turned the ball three times in 37 minutes of action. .

“He’s had a rough few days, there’s no other way to put it”, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said after the game. “Congratulations on playing a really good basketball game. He didn’t shoot well, but he was great.”

James, however, did not hold back on his performance, especially defensively, as he called his performance “shit” in the lineups when he played center.

With the loss, the Lakers fell back to .500 with a 12-12 record, while the Clippers snapped their three-game streak and climbed above .500 to a 12-11 record.