LeBron James not being in the playoffs is not right by any means. Carrying is a different thing when it comes to the King.
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Ah, it almost feels like a bizarre thing to witness the Playoffs without LeBron James. It has happened twice in the last four years and that may be an indication of things to come.
The Lakers’ disastrous season has been the story of the NBA before the playoffs. As the attention shifts to the teams vying to lift the O’Brien trophy, it all seems amiss without the King.
LeBron has always been one of those players that can carry entire teams on his back. And yet, when you look at the stats, you will see that LBJ’s carrying is very different from anyone else.
How LeBron carrying the Lakers pic.twitter.com/D7QiJZbNVo
— Overtime (@overtime) March 12, 2022
LeBron James Carrying the Lakers is just different!
A remarkable statistic shows us that LeBron has had little to no help from anyone. While players can often lead teams in every statistical category. Whether it is points, rebounds, or assists, very few do it regularly.
Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, and Hakeem Olajuwon have all done it a combined 45 times!
That itself is a jaw-dropping number. However, LBJ has been without help for the majority of his career and has led his team in all three categories a mind-boggling 75 times.
Bruh there’s carrying and then there’s LeBron pic.twitter.com/t6elZ093wB
— LeBron History 🏀 (@bronhistory) April 18, 2022
Mind you, these numbers are only in the playoffs. LeBron has often led his team in all three stats during the regular season with relative ease.
It just goes to show how badly structured LeBron’s team was. The biggest inference is the fact that most of his teammates could not step up during playoff games.
As he takes a break this season, by no fault of his own, it will be interesting to see how he comes back for year 21. We believe the drop will be marginal at best but time is the true indicator and for that, we have to wait and see.