Lakers all-time starting five – Small forward: LeBron James (2019-20)
Stat line: 25.7 PPG / 7.9 RPG / 10.6 APG
First, let’s get this caveat out of the way: I’m aware that Shaq and LeBron played together for a season in Cleveland. However, the wording of the original concept states “There can be no overlap in the years each player was with the team.” LeBron and Shaq never played together with the Los Angeles Lakers, meaning that they’re eligible to be on the same team in this exercise.
This is likely to be the first of two potentially controversial selections that I’ve made. Most people outside of Skip Bayless and Charles Barkley would have LeBron in their top three players in NBA history at minimum. Best case scenario, he’s one of a select few players that has a legitimate claim as the greatest player in NBA history.
With that being said, why do I think this selection will be controversial? Simply put, Los Angeles Lakers fans have incredibly high standards for their superstars. If you don’t win at least one title in purple and gold, you’re unlikely to be remembered with the same reverence as the franchise’s greatest players. LeBron has been a Laker for less than two seasons, and his one complete season with the team was a disaster.
Between Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal, and Magic Johnson, most of the golden years of the Lakers are accounted for. For the last two slots on my roster, I’m essentially limited choosing players from before the sixties, a few years in the mid-to-late seventies or any Laker that’s been rostered after Shaq departed for Miami in 2004. None of the very good players in those late 70’s Lakers teams didn’t play with one of West and Magic, leaving me with players from the post-2004 Lakers.
Even at age 35, LeBron James is still one of the best players in the entire NBA. Of all the non-big men in the NBA, I believe he’s still the best finisher at the rim in the league, a skill that my all-time team could really use.
For his career, he’s a 73.4% finisher from 0-3 feet from the rim and 72.8% for the season I chose. He also has a ridiculously high basketball IQ that fits perfectly with my team’s modus operandi of prioritizing elite ball-movement at all five positions.
Why I chose this version of him?
This was the easiest single-season choice to make in this entire article. As previously mentioned, 2018-19 was not only a disappointment for the Los Angeles Lakers as a whole but was a disappointment for LeBron’s lofty standards. In an injury-shortened season (55 games played), LeBron registered his lowest Win Shares/48 rate since his rookie season (.179) as the Lakers stumbled to a 37-45 record.
Anecdotally, I knew LeBron’s defensive effort had declined, but in 2018-19, I got an up-close look at it. Needless to say, it was not pretty, to the point where there were even compilations made about the lack of effort.
2019/20 LeBron, on the other hand, has been a completely different beast. Yes, team success definitely has an effect on how we perceive LeBron’s season, with the Lakers sitting at 49-14 while we wait for the season to return. However, LeBron has been much better this season than he was the year prior. In the 60 games he’s played so far this season, his Win Shares/48 are back to his Cleveland levels (.221) and his other advanced metrics are improved across the board.
Although he’s lost half a step compared to his youth, the eye-test has shown a drastic increase in effort on the defensive end, leading to the Lakers having the third-best defensive rating in the league. The conventional numbers have also been kind to LeBron this season, with his 10.6 assists per game leading the league, and his three-point percentage (34.9%) and free-throw percentage (69.7%) all increasing from last season.
Couple the above with his two-point percentage being 7th in the NBA excluding bigs (power forwards and centers), and it gives my all-time team another elite scoring option, who also just happens to be one of the most gifted playmakers in NBA history.
If you think Jerry West would be excited at the looks he’d get from Shaq and Magic, he’d be doing cartwheels at the thought of being on the receiving end of the looks generated by LeBron.
With the choice of LeBron excluding the uber-talented Anthony Davis from contention for my all-time team, it’s time to look to Kobe’s post-Shaq teammates for the fifth and final member of the squad.