Lakers: LeBron James is Chasing Kareem, Not Wins Says NBA Insider

Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports had an interesting theory on LeBron's motivations for the rest of the year.

This season hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk for Lebron James and the Lakers. Through Monday, LA is five games below .500 and seemingly destined for the postseason play-in tournament. 

Throughout their slog of a season, LeBron has maintained that this Lakers roster has the ability to start racking up wins. Problem is, it’s February and it still hasn’t happened, yet.

NBA Insider Vincent Goodwill floated the idea that LeBron could be more focused on legacy building than team success based upon the current state of the Lakers. Goodwill explained on an episode of the Posted Up podcast with Chris Haynes.

“It’s not that it’s a ‘I’m going for mine’ thing, but it definitely looks like he’s on this ‘For who? For what?’ plan. ‘Because if y’all ain’t gonna do it, I might as well get my numbers. I’m chasing Kareem at this point. I might as well get something out of this deal.’”

Goodwill cited the fact that LeBron is right now the top in field-goal attempts per game.

“I think he’s averaging around 21 shots a game right now, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but for Lebron, that’s a lot…which means he’s not being the facilitator that he’s used to being.”

LeBron ranks third in FGA per game (21.1). The last time LeBron  averaged this many shots per game was his age-20 season (2004-2005).

Goodwill makes an interesting argument, but it could also be another example of what makes LeBorn great. He has always been able to adapt his game based on his supporting cast.

The Lakers have at times lacked offensive firepower, especially while Anthony Davis was sidelined earlier this season. LeBron might just believe that this is the best way he can help this Lakers team win games right now.

The results haven’t been there, but LeBron’s on-court instincts typically aren’t misguided.