Lakers Rumors: Possible Bounce Back LeBron James Season Impending?
All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James is primed for a comeback after he started to look, well, kind of mortal last season. At least, that's what sources close to the 19-time All-Star have informed Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times.
"Now he’s back with the Lakers, with insiders telling The Times that James has been extra engaged in camp, particularly from a leadership perspective," Woike writes. "How will that energy fare if the Lakers struggle early in the season for the second year in a row? Or how will it hold up if his foot starts to get sore or his ankle gives him problems? Will another round of rehabbing and managing an injury again zap those reserves?"
James has been sleepwalking on defense during regular seasons for nearly a decade, in part to preserve his body, in part because he's just not quite Miami Heat-era LeBron James anymore.
The four-time MVP appears to be keenly aware that his supernova athleticism is eroding. He has massively increased his three-point shooting (he took eight triple attempts, his record, in 2021-22, doubling his output during his last Miami season) and seems to be shying away from contact inside (in his last four years with LA, he is averaging 5.8 free throw attempts, a huge dip from his peak of 10.3 charity stripe tries in 2007-08), perhaps in an effort to preserve his body further.
What James hasn't done lately, however, is getting much better at his shooting, which makes the move outside of the paint a bit frustrating for Lakers fans.
"The questions there mostly have to do with James’ three-point shooting — can he return close to the 36% he shot in 2020-21 and 2021-22?" Woike wonders.
His three-point shooting notably dropped last year. He made 32.1% of his 6.9 triple tries during 55 regular season games, but once defenses actually took him seriously from deep during last spring's playoffs, that number nosedived too. He converted just 26.4% of his 6.6 trey attempts.
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