Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel have taken an outsized share of the blame for the Lakers’ struggles, but maybe the composition of this team was doomed from the jump
![The creaky, mediocre Los Angeles Lakers should have seen this coming](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f289df4e3fe389e6d84aea24d0c2eaec8e0553e4/0_261_4968_2982/master/4968.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=133241d2b7f3da6fcbbf83e5a1f142d9)
At 37 years old,
LeBron James is having one of the best seasons of his 18-year
NBA career.
The
Los Angeles Lakers star is averaging 28.8 points (his most since 2009-10), 7.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 33 games this season,
shooting 51.7% from the field, 36.4% from three and 75.4% from the free-throw line, all above his career averages. After a relatively slow start and then an abdominal injury that sidelined him for eight games, James has been an MVP-level player over his last 15 games, averaging 33/9/6 on 53/37/75 shooting splits with 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks.