LeBron James hit two milestones on Monday. The primary, and extra optimistic benchmark James hit got here early on, when he handed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for probably the most complete minutes performed in NBA historical past. The second, extra doubtful little bit of historical past got here when the sport concluded. The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Lakers, 138-94, giving James the primary 44-point lack of his complete 21-year NBA profession.
That the 2 items of historical past would come on the identical night time feels considerably acceptable. The Lakers (10-8) have wanted to depend on James way more this season than they might have hoped. On opening night time, the Lakers performed James solely 29 minutes in an effort to protect his physique, however he has averaged over 34 minutes per sport since. He is needed to play that a lot. Within the 572 minutes James has performed this season, the Lakers have outscored opponents by 69 factors, however within the 302 minutes James has spent on the bench, the Lakers have been outscored by 92 factors. The Lakers are putting an inconceivable burden on LeBron’s 38-year-old shoulders, and it is already proving unsustainable.
James is aware of it, too. When he was requested after the sport what wants to vary following the blowout loss to Philadelphia, James responded merely “lots.” He didn’t elaborate on what he meant.
He hardly wanted to. Regardless of their 10-8 document, the Lakers have numerous seen flaws that stretch past their injury-riddled supporting solid. They’re making the fewest 3-pointers per sport (9.8) within the NBA this season. They generate extra turnovers than league-average and pull in a below-average share of accessible of rebounds. They rank twenty eighth within the NBA in complete passes per sport. They’ve Anthony Davis on their workforce and they’re nonetheless by some means solely a median rim protection.
Getting more healthy shall be significant, nevertheless it will not remedy this roster’s underlying flaws. There are nonetheless too many gamers who excel on just one aspect of the ball whereas dragging down the opposite. There is no such thing as a dependable secondary shot-creator that may persistently stress the rim. The taking pictures points have persevered for years. Backup heart is rising more and more regarding as nicely as a result of disappointing play of Jaxson Hayes.
The Lakers had been 7-11 at this level final season, so from that perspective they’re considerably higher. However final yr’s objectives had been way more modest. That workforce spent the primary 4 months of the season proving it might win. This workforce already did so final season. The expectation was to proceed competing and construct on final season’s success. Proper now, that is not taking place even with James taking part in extra minutes than the workforce initially hoped. If the Lakers are dropping video games by 44 factors with him, there is no means of figuring out how dangerous it might get with out him.