1. LeBron James
LeBron James has never been known to be a great three-point shooter but next season, he should lead the best team in the Western Conference in three-point shots made. In fact, while I do not think he will pass it, LeBron should get close to beating Nick Van Exel’s franchise record for 183 threes made in a season.
The Lakers are definitely going to be cautious with LeBron James this season. That is part of the reason why the team traded for Russell Westbrook as LeBron’s playing time should be lower. It has continually gone down in his career and he shouldn’t average more than 32-33 minutes per game, at the very most.
Another way that LeBron is going to be more cautious is by taking more threes. We saw this when he came back from the ankle injury for the playoffs last season and it should translate into the regular season.
LeBron is still going to drive to the rim but for the most part, he does not have to play his dominating style of basketball for the Lakers to be successful. Instead, the Lakers just need his basketball IQ in operating the offense with more jump shots instead of dunks.
LeBron is going to be the least efficient of anyone on this list but the playing time mixed with the number of threes he takes will result in him being the top three-point shooter on the team. We project him to finish with 175-180 threes, narrowly edging out Wayne Ellington for the top spot.
As long as LeBron stays healthy and does not load manage too often he should be a shoo-in to have the most threes this season.