There’s a fear factor that comes with facing one of the league’s all-time great players, and there’s little doubt the Golden State Warriors will breathe a little easier knowing LeBron James won’t be awaiting them when they travel to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on opening night next month.
The fear factor of James isn’t even born from his stature as a legend of the game, nor his epic battles against the Warriors through four-straight Finals matchups last decade. It’s the fact that even toward the end of his career and as he enters his forties, James has dominated the Warriors across recent matchups.
LeBron James exit strips Lakers of Warriors’ biggest fear
In his last 10 games against Golden State, James has averaged 30.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 10.1 assists, shooting an impressive 56.4% from the floor and an incredible 53.8% from 3-point range. Those numbers are significantly greater than his general averages over the past three seasons where he’s posted 23.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists on 52.3% shooting from the floor and 37.4% from 3-point range.
The Warriors know better than anyone that James can still be one of the best players in the league, which may be part of the reason why they pursued the 41-year-old so strongly in free agency before he rejected their approach in favor of a shock move to the Philadelphia 76ers.
If there’s one silver lining from James’ move to Philadelphia for Golden State, it’s that they’ll now only see him twice during the regular season rather than the four times while he was a member of the pacific rival Lakers for nearly a decade.
The Lakers will certainly be an intriguing watch after losing James and completely revamping their roster, but you can’t help but feel that they’re a little less threatening in individual matchups against the Warriors as a result of losing the four-time MVP.
Warriors historically fair reasonably against Luka Doncic
The Lakers have pivoted their entire franchise towards Luka Doncic who, like James, averages over 30 points in his last 10 games against Golden State. However, he also does that much less efficiently as a less than 33% shooter from beyond the arc. Doncic also averages 32.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 8.7 assists across his last three seasons, proving his numbers against the Warriors aren’t out of the box relative to his production against the 28 other teams.
The Lakers might be better defensively after moving on from James and acquiring former Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler, but they’re not as terrifying offensively after possessing the triple threat of Doncic, James and Austin Reaves.
Injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody mean the Warriors will certainly go in as outsiders of opening night, but the fact they won’t have to deal with James might make them a little more comfortable and perhaps more confident of pulling off a first up victory.
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