The silly smile said it all.
Here was LeBron James in Year No. 23, having just tied Robert Parish for the NBA record in games played while the Los Angeles Lakers’ red-hot run continued in Miami on Thursday night, and he looked like a toddler whose mother just let him have the entire container of ice cream to himself.
The ear-to-ear grin. The eyes scrunched so tight that his wrinkles — par for the course when you’re 41 — were there for all the world to see. It was a rare and revealing moment of giddiness and glee from the malleable old man, with James taking a brief moment to revel in the fact that he can still help flip even the heaviest and haughtiest of narratives on their proverbial heads.
“I mean, it sells papers a lot easier — and clippings and podcasts — if you say, ‘LeBron, the team is better off without him,’” James told reporters after the 134-126 win over the Heat. “A lot of people will try to, like, view it. So, I get it …”
He took the briefest of pauses for effect, then jumped back in before a reporter’s follow-up question could steal the spotlight from his kicker.
“But they’re absolutely wrong.”
Cue the beaming bit of revenge.
As James surely agrees, it is indeed time for a reassessment of this fascinating bunch. These Lakers (46-25), left for dead as title contenders by so many not long ago, have officially re-entered that conversation by winning 12 of their last 13 games. In this season of such entertaining parity, with the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder looking vulnerable at times after that scorching start and so many other elite teams capable of beating the best of the best on any given night, consider this the Lakers’ official invite back to that prestigious club. And a mea culpa from yours truly.
A quick look at the before and after to set the stage here, with a showdown against the (Cade Cunningham-less) Detroit Pistons up next on Monday night:
Through Feb. 27, when I excluded them from the list of eight title-contending teams (and two honorable mentions) …
Record: 34-24 (sixth in the Western Conference)
Net rating: 19th (minus-0.7)
Offensive rating: 11th (116)
Defensive rating: 24th (116.8)
Since Feb. 28:
Record: 12-1 (now third in the West), with wins over New York, Minnesota, Denver, Houston (twice), Miami and Orlando
Net rating: Fourth (10.4; tied with San Antonio)
Offensive rating: Third (121.5)
Defensive rating: Eighth (111.1)
The turnaround boils down to a handful of key factors, but none has been bigger than Luka Dončić’s sheer brilliance. During this sensational stretch, the 27-year-old has made a late push to challenge Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić for MVP honors right up there with that of Victor Wembanyama’s: 36 points per game over his last 13 (including 39.8 percent on 12.8 3s per game), 8.3 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals and a plus-10.4 net rating that is second on the team only to the revived Marcus Smart (12.7).
That last tidbit about the former Defensive Player of the Year coming back to life tells you about the other development here, how the defensive uptick that looked so unlikely has everything to do with this about-face for the Lakers. Mercurial big man DeAndre Ayton, who went from complaining about his Clint Capela-esque role to being “110 percent bought in” in a matter of weeks, has done his pivotal part of late. None of this happens if Dončić, Austin Reaves and James — all perimeter players who have been routinely accused of being turnstiles on defense — don’t put forth the proper effort on that end. The Lakers’ staff, headed by second-year coach JJ Redick, deserves a whole lot of credit for this significant turn of events, as well.
But the LeBron storyline is the most interesting because of the magnitude of the subject and the historical stakes of his situation. All of a sudden, with James putting on a selfless and spectacular show as the game’s best third option, it’s fair to wonder if the notion of him remaining a Laker beyond this season might be a viable option again. If, of course, he doesn’t retire when his contract expires this summer.
As recently as late January, not long after an ESPN report detailed so much of the dysfunction in James’ relationship with the Lakers organization, the widely-held consensus around the league was that there’s no way he’d be back in a Lakers jersey. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors were, and are, often mentioned by league executives as his most likely destinations. But it was the lack of synergy and consistent success with James on the court, above all else, that drove this idea of an unavoidable exit. Not to mention the Father Time component, with sciatica issues costing him the first month of the regular season (when the Lakers started 10-4 without him) and questions rising about whether he could still be an impact player.
More specifically, there was a mountain of evidence that James didn’t fit in with Dončić and Reaves early on. To wit …
Lineups that included Dončić, Reaves and James, through Feb. 27 (14 games; 8-6 record): minus-4.9 net rating (109.6 offensive rating, 114.5 defensive rating) in 238 combined minutes.
This was a major problem, of course, because Dončić is the indisputable face of the franchise and Reaves, the 27-year-old whom the Lakers famously signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021, is the Lakers’ top priority in free agency this summer when a major payday is coming. Reaves, who is earning $13.9 million this season, has a player option for $14.8 million next season that he’s expected to decline.
As if it wasn’t problematic enough that James ($52.6 million this season) was struggling on his own, the prospect of him hindering the team’s new dynamic duo was the kind of thing that would surely lead to his Laker Land end. When James references all that chatter about how the “team is better off without him,” as he put it, this is what he’s referring to. And as he is so keenly aware, everything that has happened since sends a whole different message about what might come next.
Since that Feb. 28 date when everything turned — 10 games in which all three players took part — the lineups including Dončić, Reaves and James have put together a net rating of 18.3 (in 216 minutes) that is the fifth-best in the league (124.3 offensive rating; 106 defensive rating). James has taken a back seat in the best kind of way during this stretch, with his shot volume taking a serious dip (16.3 shots per game through Feb. 27 and 12.9 since) while his efficiency has spiked (49.8 percent overall to 59.7, with his 3-point attempts dipping from 4.6 per game to 2.9). James is one of only six players averaging at least 19 points, six rebounds and six assists during that span (along with Dončić, Jalen Johnson, Jaylen Brown, Jokić and Deni Avdija).
His usage rate — as good a sign as any of his willingness to sacrifice and find a way to fit in — has gone from 27.3 through Feb. 27 to 22.1 since then. For recent reference, James’ usage rate was 29.1 last season, 28.5 in the 2023-24 campaign and 32.2 in 2022-23.
Beyond all the numbers, though, is the fact that we’re still seeing James’ vintage competitiveness and hoops acumen at this stage, and this age, that has made these past few weeks so wonderful to watch. If it wasn’t clear quite yet, he’s not ready to be put out to pasture. Anyone who saw him dive headlong for a loose ball against Denver in that March 14 overtime win could see that much.
He’s figuring this Lakers group out, better late than never, and reminding us all yet again why it has never been wise to cast much doubt in his direction. The smile told that story all by itself.
