Los Angeles Lakers: Post All-Star break player rankings
By Ethan Temkin
1.) LeBron James
In his 17th season in the NBA, it doesn’t seem physically possible that LeBron James is averaging 25.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 10.6 assists (league leader), but somehow the train keeps on rolling for The King. He’s currently ranked third in BasketballReference’s MVP award tracker (with Davis at 4th) and has basically been in the conversation since the start of the season.
Regardless of how dominant Anthony Davis has been for this — and he has — James is still the Alpha and Omega of this Lakers team. Everything runs through him, and for good reason. With James on the floor, the Lakers have a +12.6 net rating, which is far and away the best on the team.
His chemistry, not only with Anthony Davis, but the rest of the team, is really starting to manifest as he’s getting more and more comfortable with each player on the team. He knows exactly where they’re going to be on the floor, and how they like the ball passed to them. On the flip side, his teammates are finally starting to get a feel for this, immediately sprinting to the wings in anticipation for the pass they know is coming, leading to easy buckets in transition.
Next. 3 Players who must improve after the All-Star break. dark
When it comes to the postseason, LeBron’s resume speaks for itself, and after missing the playoffs for the first time since the ’04-’05 season, we should definitely see him take his game to a whole new level, which is bad news for the rest of the league.