NFL
By Jalen Willingham
With a revamped Los Angeles Lakers roster fighting for a playoff spot and a 38-year-old LeBron James dealing with a tough foot injury late in the season in a comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks, I’m sure many basketball fans are wondering if we’ve seen the last of King James in the title game. Is it too late for him to win a fifth title?
LeBron this season has no doubt been the best 38-year-old in basketball history averaging 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists while officially becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Even with all the personal accolades, the Los Angeles Lakers still sit in the 12th seed in the Western Conference. After the Lakers made a great effort to essentially change their roster from top to bottom right before the trade deadline, the timing of LeBron’s injury is unfortunate, to say the least. You also can’t forget about D’Angelo Russell going down as well. I still believe that the current Lakers roster could make the playoffs if fully healthy.
The Los Angeles Lakers Without LeBron James
The new Lakers team will certainly be tested with the absence of LeBron James. James will be reevaluated in two weeks and could potentially be out for much longer. To put this into perspective, with 21 games remaining, the Lakers will have to play at least eight games without their number-one guy during a stretch where every game counts and they can no longer afford to miss games. Since joining the team in 2018, the Lakers are 36-62 without LeBron James. The team is currently 5-9 with James this season and will look to rely much more on Anthony Davis and the rest of the new cast. With a respectable team in place, I honestly think that they’ll be able to at least stay in the hunt. What many Lakers fans should hope for is that the team does just enough to get into a play-in position just in time for LeBron to return.
The Immediate Future
I can only imagine the endless slander that LeBron and the Lakers will get if they fail to miss the playoffs even with their injuries. All is not lost, however. With the unfortunate luck with injuries all throughout the season, the saving grace for the Lakers is that Lebron did indeed sign a two-year extension with a player option for the 2024-2025 season. Even if LA falls short this year, they still have more time to get another title. LeBron isn’t getting any younger, however. He’ll be turning 39 in December and even though the NBA has never seen longevity from a player like LeBron, a franchise just can’t continue to expect a 39-year-old player to save them every game.
Keeping LeBron James and Anthony Davis together along with either resigning D’Angelo Russell or somehow finding an even better point guard through free agency will be a great move to possibly contend for 2024 as well. If they somehow miss the mark next season as well, then expect LeBron to be on his way out as well.
