James has played all 22 games in his 22nd season in the NBA. He is not yet officially 40 years old, as his birthday is December 30th, but James has fallen off in a bevy of statistical categories. He’s shooting 49% from the field, the lowest number since 2019. In his career, James has been sub-50% just nine times, and six of those came in his first six seasons in the league. The 22.3 points per game are the lowest number since his rookie season and the 0.6 steals are a career-low. He’s been below 1.0 steals just one other time.
The Lakers have gotten blown out by 29 and 41 points over the last two games while James has shot 4% from downtown over the last five games, so he may be given a night off on Friday as he’s officially been designated as questionable.
There is no back-to-back situation for the Lakers, but due to the NBA Cup, the Lakers play on Sunday at home against the Portland Trail Blazers and then don’t play again until the following Friday in Minnesota.
Austin Reaves will miss his fourth straight game.
If James is unable to go, Anthony Davis is the obvious beneficiary. In 88 minutes with James off the court this season, Davis has seen a 10% usage bump to a whopping 40%. Dalton Knecht has seen a 7% bump to 25% while D’Angelo Russell has seen a 4% increase to 25%.
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