“Even in Year 19, LeBron James is much better than all of his teammates!”: Lakers’ superstar impresses as the other Lakers starters fail to find their footing this season

Lakers’ superstar LeBron James shines yet again, meanwhile, the other starters fail to even record a positive plus-minus

When the Los Angeles Lakers were finally looking like they are getting things on track, LeBron James got injured. The Lakers then lost two games in a row, before their Monday night OT win over Charlotte Hornets.  

Before LeBron’s injury, they had five wins in six games, having started the season with two losses. With yesterday’s win, they are sitting at the 8th spot in Western Conference and it seems very likely that they will be finishing their season somewhere around that spot.  

With Portland just below them and Sacramento Kings fighting every game with all strength, it wouldn’t be a surprise if both those teams go above the Lakers next week. If LeBron continues to be in and out of the games throughout the season Lakers will probably find themselves in the play-in tournament.

Also read: Twitter reacts to Carmelo Anthony pulling the Lakers out of yet another tight game against the Hornets

Apart from LeBron James, every Lakers starter has a negative plus-minus

Even with LeBron in or out anything below mid-table finish will be a tough pill to swallow for the fans of a team that features Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Because what would be the point of basically trading the whole team for Brodie when they finished for the play-in spot last year with LeBron in and out of the lineups. 

But that has been the story for the Lakers in this 11-games old season. The starting five of the Lakers without features their worst plus-minus players. LeBron James has the best plus-minus amongst the Lakers’ starters this season with +15. Next comes Anthony Davis with a -27. That sounds ridiculous if you look at his stats. He’s averaging around 24 points, 11 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1 steal a game.  

Then DeAndre Jordan is a -30, Westbrook -46, and Bradley -65. Avery Bradley was supposed to be the team’s best defender but is allowing the most points when he is on the court. Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, KCP all made way for Brodie and he is having a nightmarish start to life in Los Angeles.

It looks like Alex Caruso would have fared much better than Russ is.

Also read: NBA executives go off on the purple and gold for separating LeBron James from Caruso

Austin Reeves has the best plus-minus among the Lakers, he looks like the like for like replacement for Alex Caruso, he’s closest according to this rating at least. Carmelo Anthony who has been the savior of the Lakers for so many games already is a +19 and 3rd in the list.