No one expected that In the 19th season of his career, James would still be able to win the player of the week! On December 14, Beijing time, the NBA officially announced that James won the Western Conference Player of the Week. Being able to win player of the week in his 19th season, James is the first in NBA history to do so. James averaged 28.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 steals last week, leading the Lakers to a 3-1 record.
James's ability to maintain this competitive state in the 19th season of his career has a lot to do with the fact that he has begun to change his playing style. James has seen fewer shots from the inside this season, reaching a career-high 7.8 three-point shots. In fact, after arriving at the Lakers, James' three-point shooting ratio is getting bigger and bigger. Before joining the Lakers, James averaged 5.1 shots per game in three-pointers, while the Lakers' stats were 5.9, 6.3, 6.3, and 7.8!
According to American media personality Vinay Killawala, James has 18.4% of his shots to catch the ball and shoot three-pointers, which is a new high in his nearly 9 years, shooting nearly 40%. Of those three-point shots, 39 percent came from Westbrook's pass. James has spent his entire career looking for a three-point shooter who shoots the ball, and he didn't expect to find out now that this shooter is actually himself!
Seeing this data, I just want to say one sentence: Great, Wei Shao! James's career has been so many years, and Wei Shao can let James play like this. The Lakers traded Westbrook to let him share the pressure of James' possession of the ball, and it is clear that Westbrook has done a good job of this. Wei Shao's sudden score gave James more opportunities to catch the ball and shoot three points, and James became the shooter next to Wei Shao. Of course, this also shows one point: James is actually able to play without the ball, and is a master of the ball.