Are the Lakers low key better without Lebron?

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manlisten
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Re: Are the Lakers low key better without Lebron? 

Post#141 » by manlisten » Tue Nov 11, 2025 6:43 pm

Dr Aki wrote:
The Master wrote:
TheGOATWill wrote:Yes and no. Lebron out seems like it makes basketball easier for 3 through 8. Rui, Smart, Ayton, LaRavia, Vanderbilt, Hayes. So it will matter what the plan is. If Lebron comes back and wants to be classic Lebron it won't work. There's 15 players in the league suited to play Lebron ball and the Lakers don't have any of them including his own kid. If Lebron comes back and the plan is "be the best Pascal Siakam that has ever existed" then the league has a huge problem.

LeBron was playing the offball role more than ever after injury with AD and D'Angelo Russell in the 2023 playoffs, so I don't think him playing a LeBron ball is that much of a threat now. He was waiting for years to be in position to play as a complementary piece. Let's wait for now if his athleticism didn't yet decline that much, at this age - who knows. But I'm super optimistic that they can make it work.


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Just curious where this data came from? I'd like to take a good look at it.
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Dr Aki
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Re: Are the Lakers low key better without Lebron? 

Post#142 » by Dr Aki » Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:08 pm

manlisten wrote:
Dr Aki wrote:
The Master wrote:LeBron was playing the offball role more than ever after injury with AD and D'Angelo Russell in the 2023 playoffs, so I don't think him playing a LeBron ball is that much of a threat now. He was waiting for years to be in position to play as a complementary piece. Let's wait for now if his athleticism didn't yet decline that much, at this age - who knows. But I'm super optimistic that they can make it work.


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Just curious where this data came from? I'd like to take a good look at it.


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NBA.com, someone created it with Datawrapper
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Yuri36
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Re: Are the Lakers low key better without Lebron? 

Post#143 » by Yuri36 » Wed Nov 12, 2025 12:22 am

An interesting article about LeBron's return and how he will fit in that Lakers team (it's in French though): https://trashtalk.co/2025/11/06/lakers-quel-role-pour-lebron-james-a-son-retour/

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