While the Los Angeles Lakers finished the 2023-2024 regular season as just the 8th seed in the West, it is worth noting that LeBron James had a historic campaign. Defying Father Time and putting up some incredible numbers, ‘The King’ has impressed his subjects time and again this season, proving every detractor of his wrong in the process. After the conclusion of the Lakers’ regular season, fans couldn’t help but react to the latest chapter in this book of his.
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Users on social media discovered that LeBron James created NBA history by becoming the first-ever player to record better than 72% at the rim and 40% from three-point land (on at least 300 attempts of each) for a whole campaign, as seen in the following X[Formerly Twitter] post below.
Since joining the NBA in 2003, Bron has earned his bread and butter by dominating within the arc for the most part. So, scoring 73% at the rim, while impressive, is not unbelievable for the 6ft 9” forward. However, his efficiency from beyond the arc has been beyond impressive, to say the least.
Back in the 2017-2018 season, LeBron James knocked down 149 three-pointers, his best mark to this day. However, while the Lakers superstar could only match the same mark this season, he impressively took 12 fewer games this campaign than the season in question to reach the same mark, per Statmuse.
Additionally, the four-time MVP managed to match his best three-point shooting season with incredible efficiency – shooting a career-best 41% from three-point range, per Basketball Reference. As seen in the X post below, he even shot better than the great Stephen Curry from distance this season.
According to James, his long-range shooting has improved by leaps and bounds due to one simple reason – his foot injury from the 2022-2023 season has gone away. As reported by Lakers Nation, the four-time NBA champ explained how being injury-free has allowed him to put on his best display from the three-point land.
“I’ve been able to be on the floor a lot more during non-game days. My foot has felt a lot better, I didn’t have much time to really rep a lot last year because I had to make sure that I could be on the floor running around or putting much pounding on the floor for my foot. I’ve had a lot of opportunity to get on the floor (this year). You guys see me before every game out on the floor working on my game, working on my craft. So that has helped out a lot too. Just try to stay consistent with my shot. Same shot every time and just work,” James said.
While James was unable to knock down either of his two attempts from the three-point land on Sunday, he did have a performance good enough to help the LA side defeat the New Orleans Pelicans.
In the ultimate game of the regular season, James recorded 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 17 assists. The King’s fifth triple-double of the campaign helped the Purple & Gold clinch a 124-108 win and finish with the chance of clinching the 7th seed in the playoffs. So clearly, while he has been shooting well from beyond the arc this season, the 39-year-old is still yet to build any kind of reliance on this part of his game.
With the Lakers superstar looking as good as ever in every part of his game, it will be difficult for any opposing team to predict even in the NBA Playoffs. Due to this, while the Lakers have yet to get through to the postseason, (they will have to try and achieve it through the Play-in tournament), many predict this franchise to contend for the title this season. However, whether or not LeBron James can take his team that far remains to be seen.
