LeBron James has not had the best first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, and now it’s over. On Saturday, the Lakers announced they would shut their superstar down for the rest of the year to rest his injured groin.
James put up great numbers during his first year in Los Angeles, but his team is going to miss the playoffs. There’s no way he would consider that a success.
Still, at 34 LeBron’s numbers were excellent. He averaged 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 35.2 minutes per game. His true shooting percentage (58.8) was decent, but his PER dipped to 25.78, his lowest number since the 2006-07 season.
More importantly, for the first time in his career, James played fewer than 62 games. His total of 55 for the year was largely due to the groin injury he suffered against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day. He didn’t play again until January 31.
The Lakers are going nowhere this season, so shutting down James is absolutely the right move. There’s zero reason for him to be on the floor anymore this year.
