LeBron James is the problem

A malfunctioning king

BY HENRY ABBOTT AND DAVID THORPE

The Lakers have been outscored by 132 points with LeBron James on the court this season. RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES

HENRY:

“He’s off to a terrific start!” declared broadcaster Eric Reid a few minutes into LeBron’s scoring 29 points in a dismal Laker loss to the Heat. A little later, Reid added that LeBron “looked ageless.”

LeBron put on a magic trick of a performance. Score a bunch of points, hit a 3, show up in a highlight or two, and people will say, like Richard Jefferson earlier in the day, that the Lakers’ issue is that LeBron “needs help.” He won the hearts, the minds, and the box score.

Which is the biggest and best argument for plus/minus based stats. Care about those even a little, and there are some glaring clues that the Lakers’ big problem is LeBron himself. In plus/minus, he’s this season’s worst Laker and one of the worst players in the whole league.

The Lakers were outscored by 21 in LeBron’s time on the court, and some of it was his fault.

DAVID:

After defeating the Lakers recently, one of LeBron’s former teammates told me: “I’ve never seen him laughing and joking during a loss.” Does LeBron believe the Lakers will be unable to compete with the Thunder, Nuggets, or even the Warriors? That rabbit hole corresponds to the mindset: I’m saving my energy for the next team I will play for—in early 2025. That would help explain why he’s just not as locked in all the time.

But I’m not ready to scurry down that path just yet. After all, the Lakers started 10-4—yes, they were beating weaker opponents, but wins are wins. The Lakers were playing solidly while welcoming some new blood in sharpshooter Dalton Knecht. Anthony Davis looked like an MVP candidate. All the while, LeBron was a net negative player. So, if he’s “checked out,” then he’d done so well before the bad games started piling up.

Could it be that LeBron’s unhappy with rookie head coach JJ Redick? Perhaps. Yet, LeBron knows JJ well, so he can’t be surprised with anything happening from the sidelines.

LeBron is one of the two greatest basketball players of all time and one of the best prepared and most gifted athletes of any sport, ever. What he has done in a young man’s sport may never be witnessed again. For years, he has talked about playing with his firstborn son. It took a lot of work, and some faith from his franchise, but it happened. It was truly remarkable, and now it’s totally over. Bronny is far from able to help a G League squad win, much less an NBA team. It’s pure fantasy to believe they’ll share minutes in a meaningful game this season—if ever.

What’s left for him? Playing decently on a middling team? What records are left to accomplish?

HENRY:

I watched nothing but LeBron for all of the 29 minutes and three seconds he played on Wednesday—or at least the parts of the game when he was on camera. He might have set a record for number of plays missed while standing off camera with hands on hips.

I took notes as I watched:

• Doesn’t race.

• Doesn’t fight around any screens.

• Doesn’t get back on D.

If basketball players weighed in publicly like boxers, I suspect we’d all know that LeBron was the biggest, heaviest player in that game. And yet, he got his first rebound in the third quarter, which spoke to his alarming lack of movement.

When that uncontested ball fell to his waiting hands, LeBron damn near dropped it out of bounds. In addition to standing around a lot, he also seems to lack his normal hand-eye coordination. Which tells me this story is even weirder than it first appears.