Although he has performed better as of late, LeBron James‘ numbers for the Lakers this season are some of the lowest since his rookie year. That’s OK with James, who knows what his role is for a team that’s now led by Luka Doncic, writes Dave McMenamin for ESPN.
“Luka don’t need to bend his game [for me],” James said. “Luka is our [26-year-old] franchise for this ballclub. He don’t need to bend his game… It’s up to us to bend our game around him and figure it out. We just try to be dynamic and work off of him. We know he is an unbelievable pick-and-roll player, unbelievable shot-maker. He commands the defense. He has four eyes, sometimes six eyes on him. So, it’s up to us to put ourselves in the right position.”
The Lakers have played well this season while players cycle in and out of the rotation, but in a tightly-packed Western Conference, James recognizes there’s room for improvement.
“We’re just trying to weather the storm with the guys that we have,” James said. “But, it is going to start with me and Luka, for sure. Every time we hit the floor. He has the ball in his hands. I’m going to have the ball in my hands. We have to make sure we are putting our guys in position offensively, and then defensively.”
James also provided an update on what fans should expect in regard to his availability moving forward.
“Every back-to-back, for the rest of the season, is TBD,” James said. “I am 41. I got the most minutes in NBA history. Bank [that answer] right now.”
We have more from the Lakers:
- Doncic has noticed the effort from the all-time great and doesn’t take it for granted. “He’s been absolutely amazing,” Doncic said of James. “Just helping me out, helping others out, being super efficient on the field goals. … He can do anything. Just really appreciate him. … We are playing better with each other, game by game. And this is just going to be improving more.”
- That process of improvement hit a snag this week as the Lakers lost two straight games to the Spurs and Bucks. Against Milwaukee, the Lakers’ stars came up short, writes Broderick Turner for the L.A. Times. James went scoreless over the last three minutes and had the game-clinching turnover, while Doncic fouled out with 16.2 seconds left in a tie game. Doncic was frustrated with the call after committing that shooting foul on Kevin Porter Jr., telling reporters after the game, “I don’t think he shoots like that. The referee said it was a foul. So, I guess it’s a foul.” Coach JJ Redick acknowledged it wasn’t Doncic’s best effort, but wasn’t overly concerned. “He missed some free throws, and I think he’s been such a dynamic driver and paint-toucher for us that those plays can kinda mess with your mind a little bit,” Redick said. “But he’s won of so many games and he’s not gonna, every, whatever game it is, you’re naturally gonna have not your best stuff. And he’s didn’t have his best stuff tonight.”
- Rui Hachimura, out since December 28 with a calf injury, was a full participant in practice on Sunday, Redick said, and he’ll likely play on Monday, per Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation (Twitter link). Redick said that Hachimura will come off the bench, given that he’s on a minutes restriction. Once that restriction is lifted, Redick says he will decide whether or not Hachimura will rejoin the starting lineup.
- While the Lakers’ desire to add a two-way wing player to their roster is a poorly-kept secret, some around the league point to them as an example of why it might be a quieter trade deadline than expected, according to Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The general sense is that L.A.’s limited assets will make it difficult to make an impact addition during the season. “They just need to fast forward to the offseason,” an anonymous league executive said. “They can’t realistically add to the roster. They don’t have a solve. They’re focused on keeping cap space and trying to do moves on the margins, and it’s hard to find a lot that makes sense.”
Lakers might be the worst 23-13 team of all-time. They will be lucky to make the play-in. If you can bet in your state, but $5 on that happening and thank me later.
Worst than your team?😆✌️
Their last 30 games will be real tough. they played the easiest schedule so once the start playing playoff teams it will be tough. Look what happened to OKC once they started playing atough schedule.
Idk bout worst ever but yea for this year id openly say they have outperformed their W/L record more than any other team in the nba
Davey thinks that when you’re betting on sports, an appropriate bet would be $5…
Jebron Lames for a pallet of urinal cakes? Who says no?
I say “Mute.”
LeBron will get bought out at TD. Go to Cavs and save their season …….. he wants a statue lols.
Pretty sure Cavs can’t add any buyout candidates because of the 2nd apron, even if we lived in crazy town.
For him they will cut someone no. As a minimum player. Really they can’t add one. Didn’t know that.
For him they can fake an injury to pkayer I guess.
Why is it so hard for these sport writers not to understand Lebron is getting old and lost a step. You got to be crazy to think he can play like he did 10 years ago. He still can play but he should be playing a lot less minutes and maybe run the 2nd team.
He does run the 2nd team …. Every game
Luka sits at beginning of 2nd and 4 th quarter and Lbj plays all those minutes ( very well might I add)
2nd team… are cracking jokes….ESPN, Bron/Rich Paul have really done a number of your generation. You’ll be far better off as a man when you realise not everything you hear on TV is factual. 90% BS.
Luka and Lebron on the floor at the same time is bad defense. Best to break them up on their minutes together. Lebron also needs more rest so he can be fresh in the 4th not slower in the 4th.
Sadly we can’t afford to rest Lbj as our bench stinks like a bag of old gym shorts
But yea Lbj was so amazing last game in the 4 th untill the last 2 mins 10 seconds
Reason – He got a 45 second rest only as we couldn’t survive without him
Better bench equals better rest equals we might have won that game last Friday
* arc I feel your very tough on Lbj , idk why but the dudes amazing ( still )
Hell half the games he plays better than Luka today ! He’s the smartest player ever to bounce a ball and that blades only gets sharper today
Why can’t you warriors fans stay in your lane? Go back to hating on Kerr.
They never will….built different between the ears. Gary however, seems like an absolute champion of a bloke. In short, I’d have a beer whith gary. I’d be wasted said beer if Aristotle, Giants or davey tried talking to me face to face.
Agreed with you NRG82, Gary is the best. Enjoy talking and reading his thoughts.
They need and seek attention to validate whatever delusion they have left of a fallen Franchise.
My GOAT James is so good to me
Lol. Only the gullible gen Z sheep are surprised.
We both know that the G in Goat doesn’t stand for Greatest
Bahahahaha….I think more God complex. Be doing well to be 10th all time letalone the BS the Rich Paul paid media would have you believe. That’s a 100% agree from me, in short.
Is LeBron still a top 30 player in the league?
I believe he is.
Disagree and you gen Z’s keep pushing false narratives. Name 29 players he’s better than at this point. He’s atleast the 3rd best player on his team, lols.
Lakers need an aggressive GM who has experience. They have no trade pieces other than expiring contracts . We have almost zero player development, and a bare boned scouting dept. We have limited picks for the future, smh. He’s just bad. Lebron fell into his lap, Davis fell into his lap, Luka fell into his lap. For the zillionth time, we have the worst non scoring bench in the league. We can’t beat a good team.
We have a new front office now
Have extreme trust in Walter, his hive-mind and his wallet
I think patience is needed more than anything right now not aggressiveness
I don’t think becoming a tier 1 team in the next 18 months should be the primary goal . Id even argue that the pursuit of that leads to much more folly than joy in the end 9 times outta 10