Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the top 10 players in the NBA today

2. LeBron James

Lakers fans don’t love hearing that the best player in their city doesn’t play for the purple and gold, but being the second-best isn’t too bad. As mentioned, Leonard, James, and Antetokounmpo can all be interchanged at any time.

Overall, however, this is the order of power. LeBron put up nice numbers last season averaging 27 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. While the numbers were great, his impact was not.

His lackadaisical defense was highlighted on occasions where Kyle Kuzma had to shove James into defenders and highlighted on offense on plays where he sent inbound passes to the back of the backboard.

The Lakers went just 28-27 with James in the lineup this season, which is most concerning. Further hurting his positioning, James had the most injury-plagued season of his career.

James’ consistent league dominance over the past decade is the reason why he surpasses others that had significantly betterment seasons last year.

The distance between LeBron and Kawhi is so minuscule that it’s practically immeasurable. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see LeBron carry the Los Angeles Lakers past the Clippers on the way to his fourth NBA Championship, and if he does, he’ll reinforce his status as the best in the game.