Even at age 40, LeBron James continues to be one of the most effective stars in the NBA. However, ESPN believes his presence may be regressing the Los Angeles Lakers in an unlucky way.

ESPN writer Zach Kram wrote an analytical piece on James' advanced numbers for the Lakers this season. One of the areas he dove into involved a 3-point luck score, which evaluates how successful teams are when taking threes in contrast to their opponents.

The Lakers are shooting 4.2% worse from distance with James on the court, and their opponents are shooting 6.1 percentage points better, according to Cleaning the Glass, which excludes garbage time and end-of-quarter heaves. Putting the two figures together results in a 3-point “luck score” of negative-10.3%.

“A 3-point “luck score” of negative-10.3% is an anomaly not just for James, but for all NBA players. The last player with a worse score in at least 1,500 minutes played all the way back in 2010, when 3-pointers were much less common than they are now. In other words, James is currently experiencing the worst 3-point luck of any player in the modern pace-and-space era,” Kram said.

“That aberration more than accounts for his poor performance in surface-level on/off stats. The gap between the Lakers' point differential when James is on the court (minus-32) and off the court (plus-109) is 141 points.”

“But based on the expected and actual 3-point percentages for both the Lakers and their opponents, we can estimate a 263-point swing against James from 3-point luck alone. The underlying numbers indicate the Lakers should have a positive scoring margin with James, and a negative margin without him — as is the case with most star players throughout the league.”

How LeBron James, Lakers persevered despite that statistic

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ESPN may have the advanced numbers to show the negative impact of LeBron James' presence on the court. But that doesn't take away from the fact that he is still important to the Los Angeles Lakers.

This season, James is averaging 24.7 points, 8.7 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game after 52 appearances. He is shooting 52% from the field, including 39.6% from beyond the arc, as he continues to be one of the best offensive stars in the league.

Los Angeles currently has a 35-21 record on the season, holding the fifth spot in the Western Conference standings. They are 0.5 games behind the Houston Rockets and two games behind the Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers prepare for their next matchup, being at home. They host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. ET.