The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be without LeBron James for the first time all season. So far during the LeBron James Era, that has meant bad things for the Lakers team. But with a veteran team and a star player in Anthony Davis still in the fold, at least one holdover from last year’s Lakers team believes the Lakers are better equipped to deal with the loss of LeBron James.
Kyle Kuzma, who is expected to play on Sunday after missing the previous five games, believes the Lakers are in a better spot to play without James this season, according to The Athletic’s Brett Dawson.
“A little bit easier than last year” to deal with an injury to James, forward Kyle Kuzma said on Saturday. “Last year, we were a younger team, so a lot of times in the fourth quarter, we folded a little bit. But we got a veteran team and we still got AD on this team.”
So far this season, the Lakers have +10.7 net-rating when LeBron James is on the court and a -0.6 rating when he sits. While that is a drastic drop-off, it’s better than the Lakers fared last year without LeBron on the floor as they held a -5.6 net-rating when LeBron sat, according to NBA.com.