LeBron James’ talent, physical prowess, and the things he has achieved in the last 23 years in the NBA are all astounding. However, James is not perfect either. The King has never been a prolific 3-point shooter, relatively speaking that is.
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Yes, make no mistake. LeBron is not a novice when it comes to three-pointers. 34.9% of his 3-pointers have been on the money. And a couple of seasons ago, he made a serious jump to 41%. Then it seriously fell off.
The dip has been so glaring that before Saturday night’s win over the Golden State Warriors, where he shot 66.7% to raise his 2025-26 season average to 31.1%, LeBron had only shot 19% from 3. Now, that is concerning.
But the 4-time NBA champion is not too perturbed. He is confident in his ability to find the bucket from here, there, and everywhere.
“I’m comfortable with every shot I take. I could shoot 0.0% from 3, and I’ll believe I’ll make the next one. Been playing ball my whole life. Not much of a numbers guy to be honest,” James told reporters after the 129-101 win against the Warriors.
LeBron was asked about shooting 19% from 3 prior to last nights game:
“I’m comfortable with every shot I take. I could shoot 0.0% from 3 and I’ll believe I’ll make the next one. Been playing ball my whole life. Not much of a numbers guy to be honest” pic.twitter.com/I4NyE8pdvD
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 1, 2026
A couple of years ago, when his 3-point shooting skyrocketed, LeBron explained the reason for it. Well, he had been putting in a little bit of extra work to polish his craft.
“I’ve been able to be on the floor a lot more during non-game days… 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. Work, work, work, work, work,” the league’s all-time leading scorer had said.
Well, it’s not like LeBron has walked back on that “work, work, work, work, work,” policy. Just that life is just a lot more difficult at 40, especially after the sciatica diagnosis.
The LA Lakers veteran had missed the first few weeks of the 2025-26 NBA season due to sciatica. And even after returning, LeBron took a couple of more weeks to get into the groove.
It hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk since then, either. The Lakers have struggled, especially with their defense, and even though LeBron has more or less escaped the blame for that, this has easily been one of the most challenging stretches of his career since his rookie year.
It would be a fool’s errand to speculate why LeBron’s 3-point shooting has slumped. It could be his age, it could be the injuries, it could be any factor that he is dealing with. Either way, he’s already overperforming for a 40-year-old. So it’s probably best that he keeps himself locked into the things that he is comfortable with.
