This season featured LeBron James making a huge change taking a secondary role to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves this season. Los Angeles Lakers teammate Rui Hachimura spoke about how fascinating it was to see an all-time great like LeBron making such big changes at this stage of his career. James realized that Doncic and Reaves had to do more of the heavy lifting for the team to succeed, and it allowed him to conserve some energy at his older age.
Hachimura shared the following insight of LeBron’s changes this season:
“This is my fourth season with the Lakers. Every year we have different cultures, different teammates, and how LeBron’s been, especially this year, has been really different. I think he respects the team, the coaches, (and) the players. He understands the roles on this team. It’s been great, he’s very vocal, been one of our leaders. He’s been doing great, and I think that’s why we got this fourth seed.”
Leadership is the main thing that Hachimura referenced about James helping the team reach their highest ceiling. Doncic may be the one that had MVP level performances, but LeBron understanding the roles needed of the team and changing to fit showed he can put his ego to the side.
LeBron Becoming More Important To Lakers’ Future
The mid-point of the season saw a lot of forecasting James leaving the Lakers to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers or end his career with another team. Los Angeles looked better when Luka was running the offense and putting up more shots.
LeBron returned from an injury and instantly fit into the lineup easier by making some of the changes Hachimura referenced. The Lakers had a hot streak that featured James, Doncic, and Reaves all working perfectly together to become a clear top four seed in the loaded Western Conference.
General Manager Rob Pelinka reportedly hopes to keep LeBron in free agency this summer, but it feels more important now The Lakers must find a way to keep the big three going by retaining Reaves and James on new deals. However, they also need to add more defenders and shooters on the free agent market to improve the overall team. All pressure is mounting on Pelinka to make the right moves.
LeBron Must Change Role Again This Postseason
The irony for LeBron taking a step back from every other role in his career to help the team is that he must play like his previous style in the postseason. Injuries to Reaves and Doncic will see James playing at least a couple of games without his best teammate.
LeBron has started to run the offense again and is heavily responsible for the team’s offensive success with the limited roster. The Lakers need James to have an incredible series to get past the Houston Rockets in a difficult first round series.
Houston having multiple All-Stars of Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun will see LeBron having to contribute both via scoring and setting teammates up for easy baskets to match that. James went from adapting to a new role to now having to play like he’s played throughout the past two decades and change.
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