LeBron James may still be an elite player, but he is 38 years of age and in his 20th season, which means he has an insane amount of tread on his tires.
He cannot get past his defender and make his way to the basket at will anymore, especially in half-court situations, and he has to conserve his finite energy to save such forays for when they’re most needed.
As a result, he has shot 3-pointers more often in recent years. During the regular season, 30.9% of his 3-point attempts came from beyond the arc, and last season he attempted a career-high 36.7% of his shots from downtown. By comparison, just 25.7% of his shot attempts came from 3-point range during the 2017-18 season, which was the season before he came to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unfortunately, James has struggled all season to hit from distance, connecting on just 32.1% of his 3-point attempts, his lowest accuracy in seven years. More recently, he has improved in that department.
In his last five games, which came in the Western Conference semifinals versus the Golden State Warriors, he made an outstanding 38.7% of his 3-pointers on 6.2 attempts a game.
Against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, James and his teammates will need to improve their marksmanship. The Lakers rank 11th in the playoffs in 3-point accuracy, and among the four teams remaining, they’re last by far.
They’re also 10th in points per game in the playoffs, and among the four remaining teams, they’re again last.
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