Lakers Season Grade: Eyes Turn Toward LeBron James’s Uncertain Future

Despite the best performance of the second-round series against the Thunder in Game 4, the Lakers' season has ended in a sweep to the defending champs.

The crushing loss in Game 4 marks the end of LeBron James’s NBA record 23rd season with his future up in the air. He provided some vintage LeBron moments in the postseason as the Lakers dealt without Luka Dončić for the entirety of their playoff run and missed Austin Reaves for the majority of their first-round series with the Rockets.

Dončić led the NBA in scoring this year with 33.5 points per game, even better than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31.1 points per night. Missing the league’s top scorer was an incredibly tall task to overcome, but the James-led Lakers impressed by sending the Rockets home in the first round, even though Houston was without superstar Kevin Durant for the majority of the series.

James missed the first month of the regular season as he dealt with sciatica then had to step into a supporting role beside Dončić and Reaves once he returned. It was a rollercoaster to start, but the Lakers became the hottest team in the NBA toward the end of the regular season and won more games than any other season since James headed West.

Ultimately, it’s a disappointing sweep after what was a hard-fought Game 4 as all eyes turn toward the summer with James becoming an unrestricted free agent and having a big decision on his future at 41 years old. Now that all is said and done, here’s a look back at the Lakers’ regular season and playoff performance, with a letter grade for each:

Lakers regular-season grade: B+

• Record: 53–29
• Western Conference finish: Fourth

This season was Dončić’s first full year with the Lakers after the shocking deadline deal that sent him to L.A. from the Mavericks last season. It’s Dončić’s franchise moving forward, and he proved that this year by leading the NBA in scoring with 33.5 points per game.

As a team, the Lakers went through a lot this season. James missed the first month of the season while dealing with sciatica as Father Time appeared to come into play more than we’ve seen previously with the timeless wonder. Reaves missed a month with a calf injury and, despite that, the Lakers still won 53 games—their most regular-season wins since 2011—and earned the fourth seed in the Western Conference. James had to get used to a new role upon his return with Dončić and Reaves leading the way as scorers. The new situation brought some growing pains, but the Lakers turned into one of the NBA’s hottest teams in March with a nine-game winning streak and 16 wins in 18 games.

The Dončić, Reaves and James trio worked well, as each averaged more than 20 points per night this season. Aside from the primary scorers, Rui Hachimura had a career year shooting the ball and Luke Kennard proved to be a good addition at the trade deadline to provide even more space. L.A. had a frontcourt need, which it tapped Deandre Ayton to fill. Although he’s not the player he was when he helped the Suns toward the NBA Finals, Ayton averaged 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds along with a block per night as the Lakers’ starting big man.

It’s not a perfect roster and is forced to play in the stacked Western Conference, but this year’s Lakers won the most games since James joined the franchise back in 2018 and earned home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Lakers postseason grade: B

Yes, the Lakers were quickly swept by the Thunder, but L.A. deserves credit for getting out of the first round without Dončić for the entirety of its postseason. Reaves started the first-round series against the Rockets on the shelf and James still led the Lakers to a commanding 3–0 lead before eventually eliminating Houston in six games. The Rockets were without Durant for all but one game of the first round, but even without their leading scorer, Houston still arguably had the better roster, as L.A. was without both Dončić and Reaves.

We saw some vintage LeBron moments as he shined in the postseason when the Lakers needed him to, suddenly thrust into a lead role after that wasn’t the case for the first time in his career this season. At age 41, James still has what it takes to be productive in the postseason. Dončić’s absence was simply too much to overcome when pitted against the dominant Thunder.

Now all eyes turn toward the offseason where James becomes an unrestricted free agent in the twilight of his career.

More NBA Playoffs From Sports Illustrated

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