As Lakers' LeBron James' slump continues, how worried should Los Angeles be about aging superstar?
The Los Angeles Lakers have had an up-and-down season, and no player has seemed to embody the roller coaster better than LeBron James.
The 39-year-old superstar has been having an excellent statistical season, averaging 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 9.1 assists while shooting 48 percent from the floor. But anyone who's watched the Lakers' recent games can tell you that something looks off with the King lately.
Take the Lakers' blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. It was Los Angeles' lowest-scoring game of the season by a significant margin, and James looked abysmal, scoring 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
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While this may seem like a simple off night in a vacuum, it's the latest in a string of subpar performances from James. He's mired in the midst of an 0-24 shooting slump from three, the longest he's gone without making one since 2004. Monday also marked the sixth straight game in which he shot less than 45 percent from the floor, which is the longest such streak since, you guessed it, 2004.
But how concerned should the Lakers be about James? Is this the beginning of the end for the talismanic star?
The answer to that question is: if the Lakers are smart, they won't be worried about James' slump, because they've been waiting for it to come for a couple years.
James chasing marks he hasn't hit since his rookie year in terms of futility is a bad sign, to be sure. It's a definite red flag that father time might finally be catching up to him, after 2 full decades of dominance in the NBA. The end was always going to come, and the fact of the matter is that we've been closer to the beginning than the end for years now.
But, there's still hope here. While James has had games where he looks like his tank is running close to empty lately, he had multiple games where he looked downright unstoppable earlier in the year. He's put up seven triple doubles in 21 games this season, and scored 30 or more points four times. He's nearly averaging a triple double, and even with this slump, is shooting close to 50 percent for the year.
Objectively, LeBron is not the player he was 10 years ago. He's not even the player he was five years ago. He's not going to dominate entire seasons, and his preseason goal to play in all 82 games for the Lakers this season was probably not the smartest idea he and his team have ever had. But the old LeBron is still in there, appearing in bursts and streaks and moments throughout the season.
If they're smart, they go to him quietly, privately, and tell him they want to make sure he's at his best come playoff time, that they want to get him one more ring, and the best way to do that is for him to take some more regular season rest. As the season drags on, those legs are going to slow down more and more, and that's when this could go from minor worry to VERY BIG DEAL in a hurry.
Fatigue has a way of cascading as you get older, and this slump is a sign that James needs a bit of rest. 82 games was an admirable goal, but at 39, it was always going to be a pipe dream. Give James a couple of games off, or on a lower minute count, let him rest a little, and see if the legs come back. If they do, you've got yourself a viable strategy moving forward. If they don't...well, the farewell tour could be starting a bit earlier than we all thought.
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