Former NBA All-Star Jeff Teague and his “Club 520” podcast crew strongly believe that LeBron James’ imminent return to the Los Angeles Lakers will not bode well for JJ Redick’s team, which is 6-2 to start the new season.
Teague feels that James’ declining effort on defense, particularly in the latter stages of his career, and his need to be the primary focus on offense, are reasons why his addition could disrupt the Lakers’ chemistry.
“Right now, they’ve got these young dudes playing defense and Bron be like, where he had these moments, ‘I ain’t playing no defense.’ If he ain’t getting rock or something, Bron will give you attitude or something,” Teague said, via Basketball Network.
“Going forward, I’m seeing that AR [Austin Reaves] and Luka [Doncic] is the dynamic duo, so it’s time like not force Bron out, but brother do something good for the franchise.”
LeBron James Nearing Lakers Return
Teague said James is capable of playing the role of the third option on offense, as he exhibited in stretches last season, but doubts he will remain committed to the role.
“Bron can play that third role; he can chill,” Teague said. “Bron knows how to chill, get 16 or 17 a game, but I don’t know if he’s gonna do that.”
James is expected to return in mid-November, according to Lakers head coach JJ Redick. The 40-year-old missed the start of an NBA season for the first time in his illustrious career, incidentally in his record-breaking 23rd season.
Lakers Rolling Without LeBron
The Lakers own the NBA’s fifth-best offense and most-efficient offense in the league, shooting 52.9% from the field through their first eight games. It’s rather remarkable they’ve managed those metrics without James, who has been the team’s primary scoring option for the previous seven seasons.
It’s not just Luka Doncic (41.3 PPG, 8.3 APG) and Austin Reaves (31.1 PPG, 9.3 APG) leading the way — DeAndre Ayton (16.9 PPG), Rui Hachimura (16.9 PPG), and Jake LaRavia (12.6) have proven to be valuable ancillary pieces thus far.
Furthermore, Marcus Smart has made an instant impact on the defensive end, leading the team in defensive rating (103.6) and plus/minus (+11.0) by a wide margin. As such, the Lakers could realistically remain a .600 or .700 team without James, even though his addition will help the team in certain intangible aspects.
After Monday’s win against the Trail Blazers — which saw two-way player Nick Smith Jr. shine — Redick explained how he’s getting the best out of the LeBron-less Lakers.
“The guys are holding each other accountable to that and then, as a coaching staff, you have to get buy-in into that and our guys are bought in,” he said, via Silver Screen and Roll. “We talk about as a group all the time [that] you can’t win in this league unless you play hard. It’s just impossible now and these guys have just been awesome the last seven games.”
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