For the first time in his 23-year career, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James appears to be taking a bit of a back seat.
The Lakers got off to a great start without him this season with Luka Doncic playing like an MVP and Austin Reaves playing at an All-Star level.
When James returned after missing the first 14 games due to sciatica, he made it a point to fit in with what the Lakers were doing. He suggested that Doncic be introduced last in the Lakers’ starting lineup and in three games so far, LeBron is averaging just 17.7 points on 13.3 shot attempts, both career-lows, to go along with 5.0 rebounds and 8.7 assists.
In the most recent episode of “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, James explained that at this stage of his career he is only focused on helping the team win regardless of his role:
“It goes without saying, but I’m a Swiss Army Knife. So if that’s spotting up, waiting to get the ball from Luka or AR, if that’s setting pick-and-rolls in transition, if that’s slipping pick-and-rolls in transition, if we want to slow the game down in the half court and wanna get some post-up action and be able to create triggers, whatever the case may be. What JJ and the coaching staff have done so far, we’re playing exceptional basketball with so many injuries so far, obviously me being one of the injuries that we had. But whatever demographic, however the pie shapes itself offensively on how we want to play, how they want me to implement myself into the role of the team, listen, all I care about is winning. I’ve done everything in my career, including winning, and I want to continue that. So I will very easily just fit myself right on in in whatever capacity the team needs me in… When you got a great point guard like Luka who creates so many eyes around him, one of the best things I can do is slash in from that 45 degree or wait if a guy is tagging high on DA or tagging high on Jaxson, to be able to roam behind the defense and catch lobs behind the defense. Or just stopping up and getting ready to shoot. I worked a lot of my shooting when I wasn’t allowed to do a lot of physical pounding and running and jumping and things of that nature, so I worked on a lot of that too. Having that growth mindset throughout my career to whatever position I would ever be able to be put in, no matter if it was the Olympic team or Lakers or Heat of Cavs or whatever, to be dynamic. How can I always be a threat on the floor with or without the ball? And that’s something I’ve kind of prided myself over.”
Given everything James has accomplished in his career, it is impressive to see him put his ego aside and buy in the way he has since returning to the Lakers’ lineup.
This past offseason, it wasn’t even clear if LeBron would still be on the Lakers right now. Perhaps after seeing how well they started the season though, he is fully bought in and willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win, which is exactly what they need.
LeBron James: defense will decide how great Lakers can be
On the subject of doing whatever it takes to win, LeBron James recently expressed that he believes the defensive end of the floor will ultimately decide how great this Lakers team can be.
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