The Los Angeles Lakers’ roster right now looks almost identical to the one they finished the 2023-24 season with. They have made no outside additions this offseason in either free agency or via trade, other than signing draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James.
It has greatly disappointed many Lakers fans and led them to predict doom and gloom for the team. It looks likely that as a result, LeBron James will yet again have to carry a big load going into his 22nd NBA season.
On his podcast, Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal said that James should take a major step back offensively. He feels James shouldn’t even be the No. 2 offensive option — he said the 39-year-old should, at best, be the team’s third-leading scorer (h/t Lakers Daily).
“If I was LeBron, being that I already have all the records, I would pass it to A.D.,” O’Neal said. “I would demand A.D. — ’cause listen, LeBron can still do what he do, but, ‘I don’t need to have the ball all the time. I don’t need to score all the points. So, A.D. I need you to score all the points. Austin Reaves, you can be No. 2. I can just be the old Magic Johnson-style point guard and keep everybody involved and just keep this thing going.’”
During the 2019-20 season, James did play the point guard position full time and got everyone involved, and he even led the NBA in assists per game that year. But he still averaged 25.3 points per game, which was only slightly below his career scoring average.
Playing point guard, bringing the ball upcourt, creating pace and facilitating a team’s set offense when the game slows down is very taxing, especially for someone with the type of insane wear and tear that James has. Perhaps it would be better for him to play off the ball more often on the wing and save his ball-handling and facilitating for important stretches of games and the playoffs.
James did, at times, play off the ball this past season, but he still averaged 8.3 assists a game. Davis showed more initiative and aggressiveness during the 2023-24 campaign, but while Reaves raised his game a bit, he likely doesn’t have the talent or skill to be the No. 2 scorer on a good or great team.
Whether O’Neal likes it or not, James will likely continue to score lots of points this coming season unless his game suddenly falls off a cliff.