Getty LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 21: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the fourth quarter in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Staples Center on February 21, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers won 117-105. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Lakers may not be playing organized basketball right now, but the face of their franchize, LeBron Jame is talking. “I’ll tell you one thing, right now I don’t wanna go nowhere besides be here,” James said to fans while on Instagram Live.
“Laker for the rest of my life.”
That’s high praise for the Lakers organization by James. The 17-year NBA vet is playing inspired basketball this season. This season James, 35 is averaging 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game for a Lakers team that currently sits in first place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings with a 49-14 record.
Iconic Lakers point guard and Naismith Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson told me that he was impressed with James’ play this season. “He’s just doing an amazing job,” Johnson said of James.
“He’s the leader in assists in the NBA and he’s averaging almost close to 30 points per game every single night as well. He’s really having an MVP-type season.”
Lakers’ LeBron James gets high praise at PG position from Magic Johnson!
LeBron James has career averages of 27.1 points, 7.4 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game. Magic Johnson was a huge reason why LeBron James decided to join the Lakers during summer NBA free agency in 2018. Johnson met with James after his family vacation in Anguilla and soon after, James signed on the dotted line. He’s now part of the purple and gold and he’s looking to win a championship in Los Angeles. “Now he’s really truly playing the point guard,” Magic Johnson told me last month in Chicago.
“He was point-forward before. I think we do play similar and we have similar ways in terms of coming down and making our teammates better. We won championships the same way. Our games are much alike, especially now that the ball is in his hands most of the time now as a real, true point guard.”
The first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers by way of Akron, Ohio’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, LeBron James has won three NBA Championsips. James won two championships with the Miami Heat during the team’s Big 3 era alongside teammates Dwyane Wade an Chris Bosh.
James later won one more championship during his second stint in Cleveland with the Cavaliers in 2016.
Kevin Love, Kyrie Irvng, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson were also on that Cavs’ team that was guided by then-head coach Tyronn Lue.
The Lakers like 29 of the other NBA teams are currently on hiatus after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Currently the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell have tested positive for the virus. So has the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant and the Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart.