The presence of Westbrook, in particular, will likely cut into James' per-game production, perhaps knocking him into the second round in most fantasy drafts. The good news for Lakers fans is that the team devoted the offseason to bringing in a number of reinforcements - including Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony - who will almost certainly help reduce James' workload next season. While the 36-year-old has proven that age can't keep him from being an elite multi-category producer when healthy, the injury risk has to be a concern, especially since James expressed doubt that he'll "ever get back to 100 percent" following his return from the ankle issue.
A coinciding injury to co-star Anthony Davis and the Lakers' tumble down the Western Conference standings put the onus on James to return before fully healing, and he did so with mostly positive results down the stretch. He tweaked his left ankle in a season-opening loss to the Clippers and played through late March despite never fully recovering, then suffered a right ankle sprain that sidelined him for much of the season's second half. Yet fantasy managers who used an early draft pick to make James the centerpiece of their team last year largely regretted their selection due to the fact that the veteran played in only 45 of the Lakers' 72 regular-season contests. What's more, James upped his field-goal percentage two ticks to 51.3 percent and improved his three-point efficiency from 34.8 percent to 36.5 percent. Aside from a marked dip in assists per game (from 10.2 to a still-generous 7.8), the future Hall-of-Famer's per-game stats (25.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 three-pointers) were near carbon copies of his regular-season production during the pandemic-shortened 2019-2020 season.
James' numbers during the 2020-21 campaign were mostly unchanged from the previous season, when he finished second in NBA MVP voting.
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