Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton has been encouraged by LeBron James' shooting prowess throughout their brief time together, admitting the four-time MVP has shot the ball beyond his expectations.

“He's a much better shooter than I would have anticipated,” said Walton, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “Like, just watching him day to day in practice and the amount of 3s he hits when he goes through his shooting drills, he's very consistent with it in the amount he makes them.”

James is hitting triples at a 37.1 percent clip this season, and taking them from farther out than he has ever had in his career. He notes the change in his game is just a byproduct of how he has adjusted to the way defenses play him, as his 3-point prowess has helped him keep them off balance.

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“I've been working on my jump shot for quite a while now and increasing my range every year,” said James. “For me personally, it's weird, because I know where the league is going. But at the end of the day, I can go out there and not take a jump shot and still have an effect on the game.

“I just know how to play the game. I'm just very cerebral about the game. But I understand that you got to, at times, keep the defense off balance; and being able to take a jump shot here, a couple 3s there, keeps them off balance. But for me, personally, no matter where the league is going, if there's a jump shot, 3 craze going on in our league, I can literally not take a jump shot and be fine.”

The King has been a dominant force in the game even before he developed a reliable jump shot. But later in his career, as the pace of his game has greatly diminished, he has developed a newfound acumen for the long ball, attempting 4.6, 5.0, and a career-high 5.9 trifectas per game in his last two seasons and 27 games, respectively.