Is Lebron Done?
Lebron James is a very polarizing figure. Some folks think he is the best player in the history of the game and some people can’t stand him. What makes him even more interesting is that even the folks that don’t like him watch his games probably more intensely than his fans. After getting swept in the Western Conference Finals in his 20th season it bears the question, does he hang it up or does he give it another run?
As always in normal Turbo form, let’s take a huge step back and analyze the entire situation at hand. With the roster that was assembled to start the season I have a good feeling that Lakers fans would have been happy with the fact that this team made the playoffs, let alone make it to the Conference Championship. They made huge moves at the trade deadline that help make this possible. With the trade of Russell Westbrook this helped out a ton. However one big thing that they didn’t address was shooting. They didn’t add any sort of shooting threat and this became more and more evident in the playoffs. For as good as Lebron is every time he wins a championship he has had an elite shooter on the floor with him. Not only does this give the threat of a 3 but it draws defenders out of the paint which is where Lebron loves to live. So if he does return next year this has to be something that needs to be addressed.
While we are still evaluating this from 10,000 feet can we take a minute and just think about who the Lakers lost to? The Nuggets were the best team in the West for a reason. Nikola Jokic has been the best player in the league for the last three years, even though he didn’t win the MVP this season, he should have. I have never seen a player of his size do the things that he does. He has set a record for triple doubles in one post season with 8 and counting. For a big man he is the best passer I have seen and if you have watched any Nuggets game this season a lot of times brings the ball up the court so the Nuggets have a 7 foot point guard…let that sink in. Not only can he score at will but the Nuggets have him surrounded by, you guessed it, shooters. They have no issue trading two’s for three’s all game. This is what ultimately killed the Lakers.
Lebron just finished his 20th season. The vast majority of those seasons he took his team to the playoffs and the majority of those it was a deep playoff run. At one point he went to something crazy like 8 or 9 straight NBA Finals. Let that sink in as well. That is a ton of miles on his tires. Yes he spends more money and time to condition his body than probably any other athlete in history but Father Time is still undefeated. But did we see Lebron’s numbers go down significantly? I don’t really think so. I think they just came up against a far superior team. I do think Lebron comes back next season. He has made it very public that he wants to play with his son and his son is going into his freshman year at USC. Does Lebron need to be the most dominate player in the NBA? I think that is the question. If the answer is yes then I think he steps away but I think if he can perform like he did this season he has a few more in the tank.