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The Los Angeles Lakers are by far the biggest disappointment of the season. After winning the title in 2020 and then crashing out in the first round last year, the Lakers were one of the favorites for the title this year. Yet, a poorly done trade for Russell Westbrook, combined with injuries to some key players, including Anthony Davis playing just 39 games, meant that the Lakers might miss the playoffs for the second time since signing LeBron James in 2019. However, there are still a few games left and the Lakers have a chance. To capitalize on that, they will need their whole roster to play well, but one player to lead them. Here is that one player the Lakers must rely on most over the final 4 games of the regular season.
LeBron James
Without much thought, we can say with certainty it is LeBron James. On a personal level, this has not been a terrible year for the King. James set some records this year, the most significant being the overtaking of Karl Malone on the all-time scoring list. Now, he only has to take over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the best scorer in the history of the NBA, which he is on pace to do next season. He also became the only player in the history of the league to have over 30 thousand points, 10 thousand assists, and 10 thousand rebounds. All of the personal accolades aside, James' team has been struggling to say the least.
In all honesty, based on the way they looked for most of the season, the Lakers winning 31 games is more than one could expect. Russell Westbrook has been generally abysmal, Anthony Davis could not stay healthy, and the other additions proved to be rather underwhelming, to say the least. Additionally, the Westbrook and Davis trades have left them without much to hope for in the future, so it will be a rough few years for the Lakers. The only reason why they still have one inch of a shot is LeBron James, who is on a historic level. This year, he is averaging 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks. His shooting splits are 52.4/35.9/75.6, which is fairly good for his standards. However, he needs to be even better in the last stretch.
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Until the end of the season, the Lakers need to win all of their games, which will not be easy. They have the Suns, Warriors, and Nuggets away from home, and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Crypto.com Arena. Even the Thunder, who should be easy prey for the Lakers, recently beat the Suns at home and they are a young squad hungry to play, even if their season is lost in terms of results. It looks incredibly bad and one could also say impossible for the Lakers to do this, but they have the King and sometimes having James is all that a team needs. While he is no spring chicken anymore, James has shown in the past that he can take over games and will his team to win.
The problem this year has been that no one has joined James in trying to win, or so it seems. A lot of his incredible games have been wasted, due to the fact that he simply could not do it alone. Yet, there are two games in the season that show us otherwise. On the 5th of March, against the same Warriors that the Lakers are set to face soon, LeBron James scored 56 points on 61.3% shooting, willing his team to an eight-point win at home. Just a few days after that, he scored 50 on 72% shooting to win against the Washington Wizards. It seems like a tall task, but if James can have these kinds of takeover games, where he puts down his head and just scores without much regard, the Lakers have a shot.
Generally speaking, the Lakers either win or keep it close when James scores in bunches. For instance, when James scored 43 on 61% shooting, the Lakers won against the Trail Blazers. He also scored 38 in a win in Cleveland against the Cavaliers and 39 in a win against the Pacers. There were also losses, like falling to the Nets and the Pelicans when LeBron also scored 39. Scoring on that high of a level does not always bring the Lakers the victory, that much is true, but even those losses to the Nets and Pelicans were fairly close, by seven and eight points respectively. That is a far cry from a team that has had some blowout losses this season, including going down by 37, 29, and twice by 28.
LeBron James has played out of his skin for the Lakers this season and while the results do not really show it as much, it is not his fault. However, he can have an even greater season, on a personal note, if he can lead the Lakers to survive four tough matchups and, with some positive results around the league, claw back to the play-in in these last four games left on the schedule.
