LeBron James is struggling, with that so are the Lakers

LeBron James is in a slump — and as LeBron James goes, so go the Lakers.

In his last five games, LeBron is averaging 16.6 points a game (down from his 22 for the season) on 39.6% shooting overall and 7.7% from 3 — he has missed his last 19 shots from beyond the arc. That was capped off Monday by a 4-of-16 shooting night (0-of-4 from 3), scoring 10 points with six turnovers on the second night of a brutal back-to-back in Minnesota (having played in Utah Sunday). LeBron James has shot under 45% in each of his last six games, something he has not done since his rookie season (stat via Tomer Azarly).

In this stretch, LeBron is getting to the free throw line about half as often as he did earlier in the season, although he’s still impacting the game with 9 assists and 7.8 rebounds a night in his last five. Stretch the sample out to 10 games and it’s 19.4 points a night on 43.8% shooting and 21.8% from 3.

What’s wrong? LeBron isn’t even sure, as reported by Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s everything,” James said. “It’s the rhythm. I just feel off rhythm these last three, four games.”

The Lakers are a top-heavy roster that requires LeBron — who turns 40 later this month — to play at an All-NBA level to have a chance most nights, when he does not they are pedestrian. The Lakers have a 102.4 offensive rating over their previous six games, which is 28th in the league over that time. The Lakers are 2-5 in their last seven games. While the Lakers are 12-9 on the season, they have the net rating of a 9-12 team — so far the Lakers have won close games and been a little lucky, but that tends to even out over the course of 82 games. The bigger picture problem for Los Angeles is that despite Anthony Davis on the back end, the Lakers are 24th in the league in defense for the season, and it’s hard to win consistently when a team is not getting stops.

For now, the focus is on getting LeBron back on track.

Does J.J. Redick need to find a way to get LeBron more rest? LeBron is averaging 35 minutes a night and has played in all 21 Lakers games this season — numbers in line with what he has done the past handful of seasons, including the 2020 championship season (although that COVID/bubble season saw several month break in the middle of the season so everyone came back rested). LeBron has talked about wanting to play all 82 games this season, something J.J. Redick has backed in the past — because Redick understands the power dynamic in this relationship — but is now sounding more hesitant about, as reported by Dave McMenamin at ESPN.

“I don’t know that’s in the best interest of him and us if he does that, but if he’s feeling well and feeling good, then he should play. But we obviously want to … manage that as best we can.”

It’s unclear where any rest will come, at least this week. That Lakers stay on the road in Miami on Wednesday, then Atlanta on Friday before coming home to take on the athletic Trail Blazers on Sunday. Then the schedule will lighten up a little, the Lakers will have a home and road game to round out their NBA Cup obligations during the following week (the Lakers did not advance out of group play, so they will have two games scheduled against West teams that also did not make it to the knockout round).

What does LeBron see as the key to his and the Lakers getting back on track?

“Work,” James said when asked about the solution. “Just work. That’s all.”