The Los Angeles Lakers have been knocking on the door of greatness throughout the 2024-25 regular season. Despite the fact that they've lost at least two straight games on five separate occasions, Los Angeles is 20-17 and has looked the part of a true contender when playing at their best.
Unfortunately, there's a quiet flaw that's plagued the Lakers throughout the 2024-25 campaign: LeBron James and his turnover issues.
James is currently averaging 3.8 turnovers per game, which would be his highest figure since 2019-20. The obvious counterpoint would be that the Lakers won the championship that season, and the four-time MVP should thus be allowed to continue without mention.
James averaged 1.4 more assists and just 0.1 more turnovers per game during the 2019-20 season, however, which only begins to scratch the surface of the problem.
James' most recent outing was a seven-turnover outing against the San Antonio Spurs. Los Angeles committed 19 turnovers as a team, ultimately squandering a winnable game and somehow getting blown out to the tune of 126-102.
It was a shining example of an unavoidable fact that continues to hang over the Lakers' heads: When James fails to take care of the ball, they're a below-average team.
LeBron James and Lakers must resolve turnover issues to contend
With a strong sample size of 14 games, the Lakers are currently 6-8 when James commits at least five turnovers. The losses remain the same and the win count doubles when he coughs the ball up fewer than five times, with Los Angeles checking in at 12-8 in such instances.
James' importance to the success of the Lakers' offense can't be overstated, but his inability to limit turnovers has proven disastrous in 2024-25.
Not all of the blame rests on James, who's playing far above the level anyone should expect him to at 40 years of age. One of the primary reasons for his turnover issues is the simple fact that the facilitating load has fallen all but exclusively to James and Austin Reaves.
At 3.5, Anthony Davis is the only other Laker averaging more than 1.5 assists per game—a disastrous truth that explains the second unit's woes.
Los Angeles' bench currently ranks 28th in offensive rating and 29th in points per game. That offers a partial explanation for why James has so many games with a high turnover total, as the Lakers simply don't have an alternative to having either he, Davis, or Reaves creating everything the offense does.
Los Angeles could resolve a healthy portion of this issue by trading for a quality playmaker, but that remains an uncertain possibility.
In the meantime, James is being forced to shoulder a heavy burden as a playmaker while simultaneously operating as the Lakers' No. 2 scoring threat. No one will dispute his talent, but at 40 years of age, Los Angeles must find a way to simplify the game for their superstar during the regular season.
The onus falls on head coach JJ Redick, as the Lakers' success has simply been too clearly connected to James' turnover totals to pretend otherwise.