During LA’s current homestand, they’ve faced some of the toughest competition in the league. They responded impressively, earning results over the Knicks and Wolves. Even more surprising is that they won these games while LeBron James was out.
LA winning and Reaves playing better in James’ absence led people to speculate that this team is better when James is unavailable.
While narratives like that can be exhausting to hear when the main takeaway should’ve been that the Lakers are playing well, everyone
wanted to see what they would look like upon LeBron’s return. On Thursday, the answer came as James joined LA in their contest against the Bulls.
The result was the Lakers winning dominantly. LeBron was part of a starting lineup that scored 137 points, the most by a starting unit in a regular season game since the 1970-71 season.
After the game, Redick talked about LeBron’s willingness to take on whatever role benefits the team.
“LeBron and I, we talked, we had a great conversation over the last couple days,” Redick said. “I think again, he wants to do everything possible to help this team win. He understands the importance of making sure Luka and AR can be at their best. That’s incredible of him. It speaks a lot to just how much he cares about this team and his teammates and how much he wants to win.”
Throughout his career, LeBron has always been a team-based player. On the floor, he makes the right play even if it means he doesn’t take the last shot. So, of course, he’s willing to take a backseat to Luka and even Reaves if it means the team’s play is more optimized by him doing so. After the win over the Bulls, LeBron talked about how he did it against them.
“I’m able to adapt to whatever needs from the team,” LeBron said. “With Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber being out, two of our really good screen setters, Jaxson being one of our best rollers, that’s a void that I could put myself in to help the team while Jaxson and Maxi are out. Just try to do that.
“Allowing AR and Luka to continue on the things that they’ve been doing. Obviously, ball handling, scoring, pick-and-roll play. Trying to help on the glass. I mean, I’m always past the ball, so I’m not worried about that. Also trying to be a little more active.”
The idea that the Lakers are actually better without LeBron was always ridiculous. This season, LeBron is still an All-Star and averaging 21.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and seven assists per game. At worst, he’s the third best Laker and no team improves when a player of that level is out.
The main thing to figure out is how to make three players who are best with the ball in their hands work well together as a unit. Against the Bulls, we saw signs of what that can look like.
LeBron had seven assists, did more offensive work inside the post and shot less than Dončić or Reaves.
While Chicago is one of the weaker teams in the NBA, the process the Lakers took toward success with their big three can be replicated against many teams.
Overall, there is still work for the Lakers to do, but with LeBron embracing any role that’s needed, they should be able to figure out how to optimize their roster.
And if they do that, they’ll enter the playoffs as a Western Conference team with homecourt advantage in the opening round. All things considered, that’s a great place to be in.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
