In April, after the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a second straight playoff defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James was asked if he had played his last game with the franchise.
“I’m not going to answer that,” James replied.
James let his signature do the talking in July, when the 39-year-old superstar inked a two-year, $104 million contract extension.
However, more questions have surfaced after a consequential summer that saw the team replace coach Darvin Ham with JJ Redick and select Dalton Knecht and Bronny James on draft night.
And, thanks to a string of role players exercising options on their contracts, the Lakers will return largely the same roster that finished No. 7 in the Western Conference and had to reach the playoffs through the play-in tournament.
With less than three weeks until the start of training camp, here is a look at five major storylines as James embarks on season No. 22, Redick makes his coaching debut and the Lakers chase a return to championship contention.
The King’s range from 3-point land
Often a coach will want to have his team perform in a fashion that reflects his playing style, but the plan Redick shared for James during his introductory news conference was next-level mimicry.
“Him and I have joked about this, but like, he shot over 40% from 3 this year,” Redick said. “Like, I want him shooting 3s.”
Indeed, James shot 41% last season — the highest of his 21-year career (and not far off the sharpshooting Redick’s career 41.5% mark). It was up from 32.1% the season before, a leap that James credits to his foot injury healing and being able to put in the requisite practice time to hone his shot.
The 8.9% increase was the fourth largest in NBA history season to season for a player with at least 300 3-point attempts. Another substantial increase under Redick would be rarer still, but there could be improvement by the offense creating more of the right types of looks for James.
James particularly excelled at catch-and-shoot 3s (45.4%), which ranked third in the league among players with 200 or more attempts, according to Second Spectrum tracking. This could also explain why the analytics-minded rookie coach said he wants to mix in more off-ball action for James this…
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