Coming into the season at 38 years old, we all knew that the Lakers were going to take a cautious approach with LeBron James. After 20 seasons and over 54,000 minutes, James is walking a tightrope with the Purple and Gold this season. Even so, after pouring in 16 points against the Grizzlies on Tuesday, he says that he’s playing with the ultimate freedom in 2023.
“Just going up there and just playing free,” said James. “There isn’t anything that I cannot do that I did in my 20s on the basketball floor. I’m just trying to be the ultimate triple-threat, scoring in the low-post, in the mid-range, behind the three-point line. I’ve always had that ability to rebound and find my teammates.”
Despite teasing retirement this past summer, LeBron has been on fire to start this season. Amid various injuries to several core Lakers players, LeBron has been a pillar of consistency for the team on both ends of the floor. Leading up to tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings, he’s posting 24.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game in 33.7 minutes.
LeBron Is Aging Like Fine Wine
While Darvin Ham has made it clear that he intends to lighten the offensive load of LeBron James, the King is playing some of his best basketball in years. After a summer of rest and preparation, James has turned back the clock on his career and is leading the Lakers the same way he did during his very first season with the franchise. Despite being the oldest active player in the league right now, LeBron is still among the top five stars in the game and the Lakers are once again in a position to win the West after last season’s Western Conference Finals run.
As good as LeBron has been, however, the Lakers know how important it is to keep him fresh for the playoffs. After logging just 22 minutes against the Grizzlies, LeBron was listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game and it seems that his availability will always be in question for back-to-backs this year. Thankfully, the Lakers might have enough depth to survive a minutes restriction for LeBron, but they haven’t shown that they can do without him for long stretches of time. For obvious reasons, that could be a big problem for this team.
Can The Lakers Win The Title In 2024?
When it comes to the Lakers, Anthony Davis is the key to their success. As we saw in 2020, the Lakers are best when they are running things through Davis and it was his dominance on offense and defense that made the difference for the Lakers during their bubble run. Since that season, however, Davis has lacked consistency. Constantly in and out of the lineup, Anthony Davis has struggled to stay healthy, and it remains to be seen if he can stay on the court long enough to help the Lakers place top four in the West. But even when he’s playing, Davis has a tendency to get complacent and the Lakers are extremely vulnerable when he loses his aggression like that.
So far, at 6-5, the Lakers were hoping for a much better start, but they are still in a better position than they were last season when they started 2-10. Thanks to contributions from Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and young swingman Cam Reddish, Los Angeles has avoided digging an early hole and they are considered to be one of the few teams capable of giving the Nuggets a real challenge in the West.
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