On Lakers Nation’s Facebook page, we asked readers who they thought would lead the Los Angeles Lakers in scoring for the 2012-13 season, and the overwhelming favorite was of course, the team’s leader. Even though the Lakers kept Pau Gasol and added Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, Lakers Nation still believes that Kobe Bryant will lead the team in scoring for the 2012-13 campaign.
Kobe Bryant has been the Lakers’ leading scorer for quite some time and the main target on the offensive end ever since Shaquille O’Neal left the team. Over the past five years, Bryant has averaged more than 25 points per game and will be among the league leaders once again in 2012-13.
Kobe’s numbers through the years:
- 2007-08- 28.3 points per game
- 2008-09- 26.8 points per game
- 2009-10- 27.0 points per game
- 2010-11- 25.3 points per game
- 2011-12- 27.9 points per game.
Bryant received 2,846 total votes, followed by the newest Laker Dwight Howard with 167 votes, Steve Nash at 46 tallies and Pau Gasol who got 43 votes.
Howard was the main star for the Magic last season, but his role will be slightly reduced this season with the Lakers. Howard will not be touching the ball as often as he did before and will have to share the ball with the other stars. But there is no doubt that he will be receiving much easier looks with an elite point guard in Steve Nash and the amazing passing big man, Pau Gasol.
In 2011-12 with the Magic, Howard averaged 20.6 points per game.
As for Steve Nash, he had to do pretty much everything for the Phoenix Suns last season. Nash had to do whatever it took to give his teammates open looks at the basket and also make sure he was able to score enough points. Along with his 10.7 assists per game, Nash averaged 12.5 points per game for the Suns.
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Coming in fourth in the voting was Pau Gasol, a player who was the team’s second option behind Kobe Bryant for the past two championship. Gasol averaged 17.4 points per game last season, and it will be a complete shocker if he ends up leading the team in scoring. Although Gasol changed the Lakers overnight in 2008, he will have to take a backseat to Steve Nash and Dwight Howard now in Los Angeles. However, knowing his demeanor, Gasol will do anything to win a championship.