Anybody got a tissue for LeBron?

LeBron James is tripping.

The king of the league is calling for the creator of the NBA “play-in” game to be fired now because his team is now in jeopardy of losing a playoff spot.

To make a long story short, the Lakers have been pooh recently and have slid in the Western Conference playoff standings. After a valiant effort from the rest of the squad to try to keep the ship afloat while both James and Anthony Davis were out for extended periods due to injury, since Davis came back the Lakers are 1-5 which includes an 0-2 record with both James and Davis in the lineup.

The Lakers, who held the No. 2 spot in the conference at the start of March, are now in the No. 6 spot and battling with teams like Dallas and Portland to stay out of the play-in game as a 7th seed.

For people who are not familiar, The NBA added a new play-in tournament in which the Nos. 7 and 8 teams face off and teams seeded 9 and 10 will also play each other. The winner of the 7-8 game advances to the first round, and the loser of the 7-8 game plays the winner of the 9-10 game to determine the final playoff berth in each conference.

It’s an idea James was in favor of only a year ago. However, at that time his Lakers were at the top of the West so it didn’t concern him. Yet, now it’s a problem when his Lakers are the ones potentially fighting for a playoff spot.

Yeah, LeBron, you can miss everyone with that.

Granted, it has been a hard season for many NBA teams. Some teams came into this 72-game schedule with an undeniably short offseason. Others came in with one of the longest offseasons in NBA history.

You’ve seen multiple marquee players go down this year due to injury which could be a result of the compacted schedule. However, none of these things are new in the NBA, teams have varying offseasons every year and injuries are pretty unpredictable.

The fact of the matter is LeBron just needs to stop crying. The play-in model has actually made a majority of NBA fans care about the end of the regular season for the first time since I can remember. In a year like this, you have eight teams in the West who have a legitimate chance to end up in the play in, and for the fans of the top-seeded team who they play in the first round will matter. Do you really think Utah or Phoenix want to play Steph Curry or a healthy Lakers squad in the first round?

If we are being real the “play-in” idea was genius and no matter what LeBron says whoever came up with it not only needs to keep their job but they probably need a raise.

Just pass LeBron a tissue and let him pout, he’ll get over it when the “play-in” benefits him again.