Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is one of the best scorers in the history of the game, arguably the very best.
Against the Detroit Pistons, he did something that had only happened twice before over the course of his illustrious 23-year-long career. 'The King' went scoreless during the first half of the game.
James recently played in his 1,612th regular-season NBA game. That made him the career leader in games played. Considering the amount of basketball that he has played, it is incredibly impressive that his going scoreless in the first half happened just for the third time.
That being said, it is also important to note that James' role has changed. For pretty much the first time in his career, he is not the first-choice option in a team. For the Lakers, that man is Luka Doncic. And he has backed it up with his phenomenal performances this season, as he is playing at an MVP-level.
James' new role means that he is not scoring as much as he is used to. He is averaging 21 points this season, the lowest of his career.
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Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke about James' scoreless first half against the Pistons while talking to the media during his postgame press conference.
"Yeah, I thought he played a really unselfish game," Redick said. "Ended up with 10 assists. We missed him a couple of times in on early seals in transition in the first half. You know, we ran some plays for him. I thought, you know, he did a good job of not just trying to score but, you know, make the right play like he always does. And he gets 10 assists."
Ultimately, James finished the game against the Pistons with 12 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. One more rebound and he would have had a triple-double.
The fact that it was a bad day at the office for the 41-year-old just further underlines his greatness and the standards that he is continuously held up to, even at this point in his career.
