LeBron James spent much of his prime as one of the NBA’s elite defenders. He was first team NBA All-Defensive team for five straight years. But basically since turning 30, LeBron’s defensive effort has declined to somewhat of a punchline.
He now puts up an abysmal Defensive Rating for players averaging at least 15 minutes per game, and each game seemingly provides a new clip exposing LeBron’s defensive lapses. At this point, the social-media treatment is almost James Harden bad.
That was the case again during the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers on Monday night. A viral clip hit Twitter that showed Kyle Kuzma apparently pushing LeBron to play defense and contest a 3 from Danilo Gallinari.
Fans used the moment to roast LeBron’s “PLAYOFF MODE ACTIVATED” effort, but if you watch the play, LeBron wasn’t at fault here.
Kuzma pushed LeBron to cover for his own defensive lapse.
LeBron begins the play matched up on Montrezl Harrell while Kuzma should have been guarding Gallinari. LeBron, knowing that Harrell is a .077 percent 3-point shooter, left Harrell with space at the perimeter in an attempt to jump the passing lane.
That was where Kuzma got stuck.
If you see below, Kuzma lost position guarding Gallinari and tried to go under LeBron (as if he was a Clippers player setting a screen) instead of staying close to Gallinari.
Former Hawks and Raptors scout Bryan Oringher made note of that in a pair of screenshots.
In that moment, Kuzma realized that LeBron was closer to Gallinari and pushed him towards the Clippers forward to contest the shot.
The improvisation worked because Gallinari missed the contested jumper, but it wasn’t like LeBron left his man open and needed Kuzma’s push help to recover.
Kuzma needed LeBron to bail him out following a defensive mistake.
