{"id":12368,"date":"2022-01-20T01:36:06","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T01:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/2022\/01\/20\/nba-star-power-index-lebron-james-is-doing-all-he-can-for-the-lakers-klay-thompson-rekindles-shooting-flame\/"},"modified":"2022-01-20T01:36:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T01:36:07","slug":"nba-star-power-index-lebron-james-is-doing-all-he-can-for-the-lakers-klay-thompson-rekindles-shooting-flame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/nba-star-power-index-lebron-james-is-doing-all-he-can-for-the-lakers-klay-thompson-rekindles-shooting-flame\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Star Power Index: LeBron James is doing all he can for the Lakers; Klay Thompson rekindles shooting flame"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome back to\u00a0<\/strong>NBA<\/strong>\u00a0Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players getting the most buzz around the league. Inclusion on this list isn’t necessarily a good thing — it simply means you’re capturing the NBA world’s attention. This is also not a ranking. The players listed are in no particular order. This column will run every week throughout the regular season.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n James recently took to Twitter to apologize to Lakers fans for the team’s disappointing showing this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n For his part, LeBron is doing all he can possibly be expected to do this season. His across-the-board numbers are astounding. He’s second in scoring and leads the league with 19 30-point games. He and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only players scoring at least 20 points per game while adding at least six rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block. Unfortunately, James is also the guy who lobbied for Russell Westbrook, who is the Lakers’ biggest — though certainly not their only — problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n From Marc Stein’s latest newsletter:<\/p>\n Westbrook’s fit as a Laker alongside James and Davis has proven as ponderous as countless skeptics said it would be when Vogel’s bosses \u2014 at James’ and Davis’ urging \u2014 scuttled a planned trade for Sacramento’s Buddy Hield to acquire Westbrook instead. \t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Lakers would be better with Hield than they are with Westbrook, and they would be better with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma than they are with Westbrook. Either way, they got worse with Russ, and LeBron asked for it. Now Frank Vogel is likely going to be the one to pay with his job.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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