LeBron James is one of the best players in the league. He is a forward that can generally do everything on the basketball court, though his focus this season has been primarily on scoring. Currently, LeBron James is averaging 30.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 6.2 APG.
While there is no doubt that LeBron James has been amazing on an individual level, the team wins haven’t followed. The Los Angeles Lakers have been a disappointing team all season long, and have recently fallen out of the play-in tournament after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans.
A recent statistic illustrates just how subpar the Los Angeles Lakers have been this season. Reddit user @BoomBoomSpaceRocket found out that this season is the first season a LeBron James-led team has had a negative record with him playing since his rookie season. LeBron James had a 33-46 record when he played his rookie year and a 31-35 record when he plays this year.
Guaranteed after last night’s loss. Technically he could still finish with a winning record combining regular season, play-in, and playoffs.
As you can see, even in his rocky first year as a Laker where the team finished 8 games below .500, he still managed to maintain a 28-27 record. This year could also likely mark his lowest total game won in 18 NBA seasons (fairly likely). If he plays and loses all 5 remaining Lakers games, he will also record the lowest winning % of his career (unlikely).
This 16 year streak was not the longest in NBA history. I don’t know for certain who holds the record, but the longest I could find was Karl Malone who achieved a winning record in all 19 of his seasons. Stockton has a 19 year streak as well if you count the .500 record his rookie year.
Based on his raw statistics, LeBron James is doing everything that he can to uplift the Los Angeles Lakers. However, they have not been able to capitalize on his performances whatsoever.
Hopefully, we see the Los Angeles Lakers make the play-in tournament. Their chances of doing that are low, but they have a solid amount of talent on the roster. We’ll have to wait and see if they are able to rally and finish off the season strong.
