The Athletic: Lakers’ LeBron James isn’t the guy anymore

James’s double-pumping reverse layup that didn’t come all that close to going in was a defining moment for the Lakers in a first quarter of the season that has contained a series of them, because it underscored the reality that they can’t just be Cleveland 2.0 and count on LeBron to save the day. This 36-year-old version of LeBron James, while surely still quite good at basketball, just isn’t That Guy.

The evidence has been piling up in the early part of the season, even before he went out with an abdominal strain, changes discernible with the eye test that are also piling up all over his stat sheet. In truth, you could start seeing the signs last season, but 2020-21 was so weird on so many levels it was hard to take it all in.

James is taking half as many free throws as he did a year ago, going to the basket far less and becoming increasingly reliant on 3s for his offense – they now comprise nearly half his shots. His average shot distance, which hovered between 11 and 12 feet for most of his career, jumped to 13.9 in 2020-21 and is now 15.2 feet so far this year. We have a small sample size still, but he’s shooting 65.9 percent at the rim, by far the worst of his career, with the blown finish above serving as a prominent example. A huge plus on the glass for his entire career, he’s seemed paralyzed on the floor at times and sports just a 7.6 rebound rate.