So far this season, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been having an MVP-caliber campaign, and it has extended to the defensive end of the court.
In fact, Skip Bayless, who has been portrayed as a James hater, could only pay his respects when he saw that the four-time NBA champ is tops in defensive win shares.
.@RealSkipBayless on Kuzma tweeting LeBron needs to make the NBA All-Defensive Team:
"I was shocked and fell out of my chair to find that LeBron James is ranked #1 in defensive win shares. That's impossibly good, it's great." pic.twitter.com/IVee12mOB4
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) March 2, 2021
When co-superstar Anthony Davis went out with a calf strain just over two weeks ago, the Purple and Gold struggled by quickly going on a four-game losing streak.
But since then, L.A. has won two in a row and has seemingly regained some of its mojo.
Through it all, James has been his usual sublime self. He is averaging 25.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game on the season.
In a win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday he had four steals and three blocked shots. He followed that up with two steals and two rejections on Sunday against the Golden State Warriors.
As a result, the Lakers have regained second place in the Western Conference and are starting to creep up on the first-place Utah Jazz.