The Los Angeles Lakers’ early-season struggles have been well documented, but help seems to be coming your way.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there is “growing optimism” that superstar LeBron James will return for the Lakers’ game against the Boston Celtics on Friday, November 19. James is said to be making “good progress” after continuing to practice. personally in recent days, set to join Los Angeles for the upcoming five-game road trip.
The 36-year-old has been sidelined since November 2 due to abdominal strains, missing the last seven games. He has missed a total of nine games so far, with the remaining two due to an ankle sprain in the third game of the season.
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With the Lakers off to a poor 8-7 start, can LeBron’s return put things back on track?
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How does LeBron James’ return impact the Lakers?
Let’s start by stating the obvious: the return of the Lakers to one of the all-time greats will impact the team in a positive way. Even at 19, after a few nagging injuries, you can expect James to step in and steer the ship.
Prior to his abs, James was averaging 24.8 points for the top team with 7.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.
He still throws down ridiculous pitches, often enough to have a two-minute highlight pack from six games.
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His game will never fail, he has kills career high 2.8 3 seconds per game and he still make the big plays happen at the top of the defense.
The Lakers are 4-2 in games LeBron has played and 4-5 in games he has sidelined.
While his on/off numbers paint a picture of how important he is to their success, it largely exaggerates how much better they are when James is in the ring.
With James on the floor, the Lakers’ offensive stats of 109.8 would rank them eighth best in the NBA. When James left the ring, the Lakers became a team in the bottom 5 of the table with an index of 101.6.
As it stands for the entire season, Los Angeles’ offensive stat of 104.8 places them 23rd in the league, a far cry from the position a championship contender might have hoped for.
With James back on the roster, the Lakers will be less reliant on attack by Russell Westbrook, who hasn’t had the most ideal start to his time as the Laker. Westbrook is averaging a league-leading 5.3 goals per game, a number that has only increased since James’ injury.
On the other hand, star striker Anthony Davis is starting to find rhythm again with more shot attempts, averaging 26.4 points in the last five games. While StatMuse shows that Davis only averaged about three more points in game without James compare to game with James This season, LeBron will have to deal with his own problems to keep the eight-time All-Star star on the offensive even after the trio is back on the ring together.
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That will be the biggest hurdle to overcome, as the trio failed to press correctly right before James was injured. With Westbrook and James once again sharing the task of playing the ball and all three players sharing the effort of shooting, can they overcome the twists and turns and become the dynamic force the Lakers look forward to ahead of the season? begin?
The answer to that question would be the difference between a championship team or a team eliminated from the knockout stages that are too short for their goals.
What will happen to the Lakers starting lineup when LeBron James returns?
Along with James, the other four Lakers starting players in his final game before his injury were Westbrook, Davis, Kent Bazemore and Avery Bradley.
Since then, Bazemore has been left out of the starting lineup to replace 20-year-old prospect Talen Horton-Tucker, who has returned to action following pre-season thumb surgery, and Carmelo Anthony has played the role herself. The game comes from James’s absence.
Since it’s probably safe to assume James, Westbrook and Davis will all start, it’s up to head coach Frank Vogel to make the decision to pick Anthony, Horton-Tucker and Bradley.
My guess is that Bradley will stay in the starting line-up to defend his outer ring, while Anthony will round to the frontline with LeBron and AD. Because of Horton-Tucker’s ability as an offensive playmaker, his talent would be better suited to lead the second unit with James and Westbrook dominating the ball in the first game. first.
THT’s move to the bench gives the Lakers some real depth for the first time this season, as the young forward has enjoyed a sizzling start, averaging 22.5 points, 5.0 rebounds , 1.5 assists and 1.0 steal in his first two games.
It will be interesting to see how Vogel actually handles the starting five games and the rotation of the team as they look to stabilize what has had a sporadic start.
