Are the Los Angeles Lakers actually better without LeBron James?

The Los Angeles Lakers have not gotten off to a great start as the team currently has a 4-10 record through 14 games. There is some sense of optimism, however, as the Lakers have won two in a row and have a much easier slate of games on the horizon.

Anthony Davis dominated on Friday night to lead the Lakers to their fourth win of the season as the Lakers genuinely had one of their best offensive nights of the season. While it came against the Pistons, the team’s 128 points is a season-high. This is only the second time the team has scored 120 or more points, with the other being the overtime win over New Orleans.

This all happened without LeBron James, who has missed the last three games. This has not really impacted the Lakers, though, as the team is 2-2 without James compared to 2-8 with him.

LeBron definitely is having a down year for the Lakers thus far and with the team looking completely different the last three games without him, it has at least raised a question among Lakers faithful who may not have been huge LeBron James fans, to begin with.

Are the Los Angeles Lakers better without LeBron James?

As crazy as this question sounds, the numbers say that Los Angeles absolutely has been better without James this season. It is a small sample size and the quality of opponent definitely has to be considered, but it goes deeper than just the win-loss record with and without him.

The Lakers have played better basketball when LeBron is not on the court this season. The on/off numbers tell the entire story. When LeBron is on the court, the team’s offensive rating is 10.4 points higher. The defensive rating is 5.2 points worse, but that still means the Lakers’ net rating with LeBron on the bench is 5.2 points higher.

Just to put that into context, a 5.2-point difference in net rating was the same difference between the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets in the regular season last year. That is a tangible difference.

For the first time perhaps in his entire career, LeBron has been inefficient on the offensive side of the basketball. He is taking the second-most threes per game of his career (only behind last season) and is shooting a horrendous 23.9% from beyond the arc. He is also averaging a career-low in free-throw attempts, showing that he is not the same dominant force that drives to the basketball that he has been before.

The problem with LeBron having a down year offensively is that he still has such a massive role on offense. Obviously, LeBron is going to be tasked with running the offense and when you have an inefficient offensive player with a high usage rate, this is what happens.

That has been the problem with Russell Westbrook in LA. LeBron’s inefficiency has not been as bad as Westbrook’s was last season but it is something to definitely monitor.

This could mean one of two things for the Lakers. It could mean that this team actually has a higher ceiling than he anticipated that isn’t being reached since LeBron is playing poorly. Once he turns it around, we may see a completely different Lakers team.

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However, it could also be the start of serious regression for LeBron. If that is the case, Los Angeles needs to rely on him less and let Anthony Davis be the best player on the team that the offensive revolves around.