It has been a weird season for LeBron James. After 15 seasons of close to perfect health, James experienced his first major injury in his NBA career this season. The groin injury forced him to miss a total of 18 games, including a 17-game stretch from the end of December into February.
Since returning to play, James hasn’t quite looked like his full self. There is speculation that he may not be in his usual shape after sitting out for some time, or that he is even not all the way healthy yet. The one thing that he isn’t trying to listen to, though, is that he is a liability on the defensive end for the Los Angeles Lakers. In speaking with Yahoo Sports, LeBron had this to say:
“I mean, every team has the right if they want to single me out defensively. Come on with it. Hey, listen, come on with it. Every team has the right to be like, ‘Oh, ’Bron’s over there.’ Hey, just come on with it. … We’ll see what happens.”
While it does look like we are seeing a different LeBron James on the court right now, his defensive impact is still there when he puts in the effort:
https://twitter.com/RiseJA23/status/1100515008860078080
After being used to seeing LeBron either roaming the court, essentially playing free safety and helping cover all five players on the opposing team, anything shy of a total shutdown of the offense or a chase-down block just doesn’t feel like peak James defense. Though the defensive effort is there at times, it is obvious that it isn’t quite the same. He often takes plays off, either to reserve himself for the offensive end or because he is still getting his health or conditioning right following injury.
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