Lakers News: LeBron James Faces Harsh Criticism From Former NBA Rival Amid Recent Slump

20-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers power forward LeBron James has hit a bit of a performative skid of late.

The 6-foot-9 superstar, who at 39 is the league's oldest active player, is emerging from a rough six-game individual stint, wherein he averaged a mere 16.8 points on .398/.100/.857 shooting splits, 8.7 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout, while notching a cumulative -15.2 plus-minus. The Lakers went 2-4 in those games.

James enjoyed a better individual run on Wednesday, scoring 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the floor (1-of-4 from long range) and 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, while dishing out eight dimes, grabbing five rebounds and swiping one steal. But he played zero defense, as did the rest of Los Angeles, in falling 134-93 to the Miami Heat on the road and losing their sixth game in their last eight.

On the year, James is still averaging a respectable stat line of 22.3 points on .491/.342/.758 shooting splits, 9.0 assists, 7.9 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks. The scoring represents his lowest average since his rookie season (when he averaged 20.9 points for the Cavaliers), but the passing and rebounding numbers are improvements over his career marks of 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists.

One of James' chief rivals during his Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat playing days has weighed in on this recent dip. Former 10-time Boston Celtics All-Star small forward Paul Pierce, whose squads faced off against James' in the playoffs many times, took to Fox Sports 1 to predict that this season, James' 22nd, could be his last in the league if he maintains his current breakneck pace.

.@PaulPierce34: This could be LeBron’s last year in the NBA. pic.twitter.com/0wJ1TZC7P4
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) December 3, 2024

“I seriously think, like literally, this is the worst stretch of LeBron's career," Pierce said. "He's playing all the games, he's playing 35-plus minutes a game. I think either one of two things has to happen: he's gonna have to cut down on his minutes, play less games, or, if he decides to play this through, this could be LeBron James' last season in the NBA.”

"Because think about this: what does LeBron have to play for? He's won championships on every team he's played on, he's the all-time leading scorer, and then to top it off, he got his son that he got to play with — which no NBA player has ever done," PIerce said.

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