LeBron James' points per game in 2022-23 might be his best ever: So why are LA Lakers still 13th in the West and how do they improve?
The LA Lakers have struggled mightily this season and are currently in the 13th spot in the Western Conference. LeBron James is having one of the best seasons of his 20-year NBA career, yet the Lakers haven't been victorious.
With 30.2 points per game, James is the seventh-best scorer in the league. This is also the third-best scoring mark of his career, which is very impressive considering that he's 38.
Despite LeBron's greatness, the Lakers are 26-31 and may miss the playoffs once again. James is obviously not a problem, but what can be done to improve the team?
LA Lakers are struggling despite LeBron James' fantastic season
LeBron James is in his 20th professional season, yet has shown no signs of slowing down. Despite being 38, he is still the best player on the LA Lakers, which is a red flag.
Anthony Davis, who is 29, is supposed to be the best. However, the 6-foot-10 forward has been very inconsistent this season. He hasn't been able to stay healthy either, missing 24 games so far.
If Davis was the only problem, the Lakers would have done a much better job. However, the team has many other flaws and some of them cannot be fixed easily.
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The Lakers are the fifth-worst 3-point shooting team this season as they've converted only 33.8% of their long-range shots. Having no reliable 3-point shooters is a recipe for failure in the modern NBA, which is why it's no surprise that the team has struggled.
LeBron James leads the team in 3-point attempts with 7.0 per game. However, his conversion rate is only 31.5%, which is very low. Lonnie Walker IV is the best shooter on the team at the moment, yet even he has only converted 36.9% of his 3-pointers.
Finally, the LA Lakers have been poor on the defensive end of the floor. They allow their opponents to score an average of 118.3 points per game, which is the fourth-worst mark in the entire league.
How can Lakers improve?
Unfortunately for the LA Lakers, there isn't much they can do to improve by the end of the season. Rob Pelinka has made some big roster moves over the last few days, which should improve the team.
The Lakers will need to be able to count on both Anthony Davis and LeBron James. However, the two have dealt with injury issues lately and will most likely miss at least a few more games.
The Lakers only have two more games before the All-Star break. After that, they will be off for a week, which will help them recover and make a strong playoff push.
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It will be interesting to see how good the new additions will be. D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and the other players the Lakers acquired are great, but we will have to wait and see how they work out.