On Feb. 7, 2023, LeBron James scored his 38,388th point to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points in NBA history. He hasn’t played a game since, and the Lakers enter Feb. 15 with a 26-32 record that ranks them last in the Pacific Division and 13th of 15 teams in the Western Conference.
The question for today is this: now that LeBron has achieved his historical moment, is there any other reason to pay attention to the Lakers as a team moving forward?
Let’s explore… starting with something else that quietly happened since LeBron broke the record.
At the NBA Trade Deadline, the Lakers traded away several players, including Russell Wesbtrook, Patrick Beverley, Thomas Bryant and Juan Toscano-Anderson. In return, they acquired D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba and Davon Reed. These deals came on the heels of the January trade of Kendrick Nunn and three second round picks for Rui Hachimura.
The Lakers have infamously been one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA this season. Westbrook and Beverley epitomized this, shooting less than 32% from 3-point range…
