Thus far through 15 years in the NBA, LeBron James has shown little signs of slowing down as he remains the best player in the league. Despite his excellent play during the 2017-18 NBA season, however, it was clear that James had way too much on his plate.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ plan to fix that is by surrounding James with playmakers and defenders that will lessen his burden. Bringing in Lance Stephenson and Rajon Rondo to go along with Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart certainly accomplishes that. However, it also suggests that the ball will be out of James’ hands more than it has been previously.
Apparently, that is something that James understands and wants to do more as he gets older. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne, he told Magic Johnson that playing in the post more, and controlling the ball less is important:
Playing more like Bryant and Jordan will take time and patience, and James told Johnson that some habits will be hard to break, sources said. But James knows playing more inside and yielding some control of the ball is important as he ages and his athleticism starts to fade.
Taking the ball out of the hands of one of the greatest playmakers the NBA has ever seen seems crazy, but it will certainly help out James in the long-run. Playing in the post more will allow him to get more easy baskets and expend less energy doing so.
It will also make the Lakers more difficult to guard as teams will have more to worry about and more ways for James to do damage. Of course in the big moments, he will surely have the ball in his hands more often than not, but this just shows that he is still willing to add to his game at this stage in his career, for the betterment of himself and the Lakers.
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