Lakers News: LeBron James Thinks LeBron James Is Being Taken For Granted
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To be fair, this is not untrue.
Los Angeles Lakers All-Star small forward LeBron James is being taken for granted by his team… according to Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James.
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The 18-time All-Star and four-time champion took to his Instagram yesterday for a cryptic post, where it sure seemed like he was advising himself to keep his head up:
Who exactly is taking him for granted? The team that hasn’t given him “lasers” to help spread the floor? His opponents? The media? That’s less clear, though this writer would venture to guess this note was directed squarely at the person who built this shoddy team: recently-extend vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka. If such is the case, perhaps that means James would like improved help, which L.A. could unlock by trading away the expiring $47.1 million contract of Russell Westbrook for more high-end role player depth. If opposing teams and the media are taking James for granted, the solution to that probably ties in pretty directly with what would happen when L.A. dealt Westbrook for better, cheaper players: the team would win more!
Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register writes that it appears that James seems to trust “himself more than he trusts his teammates to finish on his passes.” To this end, Goon observes that James opted to prioritize getting his own buckets at the expense of feeding expectant teammates dotting the perimeter.
James noted after L.A.’s 110-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday that Los Angeles was ranked “bottom everything offensively.” Goon adds that the Chosen One then curtly responded to a followup postgame query that he would be striving to take on more of the scoring load himself.
Three-point shooting notwithstanding, what James is doing on the offensive end of the court, at the advanced age of 37 in his 20th NBA season, is pretty remarkable. He is averaging 25.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.8 assists, a steal and a block across 36.3 minutes a night through L.A.’s first four games. The assistant number would be even higher if, you know, his team wasn’t shooting 21.2% from three-point land.
As Goon adds, only two of LBJ’s current Lakers teammates are converting at a better-than-league average rate on their treys this season: Matt Ryan (50%) and Austin Reaves (40%). There are a handful of Lakers (Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Lonnie Walker IV and James himself) who are 34.5% or better three-point shooters for their career, but are significantly below that mark in 2022-23. If other Lakers start converting their looks, maybe King James won’t be taken for granted quite so much.