Los Angeles Lakers Player Spotlight: LeBron James

We have been spotlighting every player on the Los Angeles Lakers and today we look at the face of the NBA and American sports, LeBron James.

The next player that will be covered in the “Los Angeles Lakers Player Spotlight” series is LeBron James.

Biography

LeBron James skipped going to college and made the jump from high school straight to the NBA. However, he was easily the prospect with the most hype and promise in the loaded 2003 draft class.

In the 2003 NBA draft, LeBron was drafted by his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even in his rookie season, he was a star. He won rookie of the year in his first season and became the cornerstone and face of the entire city of Cleveland. In 2007 he carried what has been argued as the worst team to be in the NBA Finals while losing to the San Antonio Spurs.

This may have been one of the most lopsided finals matchups of all time however, after the game, Tim Duncan told James that the league would eventually be his.

In 2011, LeBron took the power into his hands and threw the NBA into chaos when he joined Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat. In his first trip to the finals with the Heat, LeBron had what was the most disappointing playoff series of his career.

This awful performance led to a finals loss against the Dallas Mavericks. This threw James’s early legacy already into jeopardy. However, he bounced back and won back to back championships with the Heat.

After the 2013 title, the Heat took were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 finals. This caused James to return home to the Cavs. After a four-year battle with the Golden State Warriors in the finals, every year from 2015-2018 LeBron left Cleveland for the bright lights of Hollywood.

Strengths And Weaknesses

LeBron is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. As a result of this, there are only slight weaknesses to his game. The main weak point is free-throw shooting. Through many seasons and even more free throw shot forms, LeBron still has not found the right stroke to make him an above-average three-point shooter.

Aside from that, LeBron is elite in every other category. He is a dominant inside scorer and has even developed a jump shot as his career has gone on. He is one of the best rebounders of all time for his size.

He is also the greatest passing non-guard of all time. On the defensive side of the ball, James is both an amazing perimeter and interior defender. He can guard any position on the court. Also, he has patented the chase-down block. Lastly, he is an all-time great leader and floor manager.

What LeBron James Brings To The Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron is the player that will make or break the Los Angeles Lakers. As shown last year with the team, before his injury they were the fourth seed in the Western Conference and by the end of the year, they did not even make the playoffs.

This is typically the case with any LeBron James-led team. For example, this year, with LeBron the Lakers are title favorites and without him, they would possibly be a first-round exit.

For the rest of his contract, James will most likely be the deciding factor in the failure or success of the Lakers and Lakers fans everywhere should be praying to the basketball gods that James decides to spend the rest of his career in Los Angeles.