Los Angeles Lakers: Interest in signing Jimmy Butler makes no sense

The Los Angeles Lakers’ interest in signing Jimmy Butler makes no sense because he doesn’t possess the right skill set to complement LeBron James

"The Los Angeles Lakers have genuine interest in acquiring Butler."

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports said this in regards to what teams would be interested in signing unrestricted free agent Jimmy Butler this summer. However, one can argue that the Los Angeles Lakers should remove Butler from their list of free agent targets as he doesn’t possess the right skill set to complement LeBron James.

LeBron James has gained a reputation around the league of being a ball dominant player. Kevin O’Connor of the Ringer acknowledged LeBron’s tendency to dominate the basketball during one of his articles last October:

"LeBron’s presence means he’ll possess the ball the majority of the time he’s on the court"

One example of what Kevin means is when LeBron dribbles the ball to the 3-point line and analyzes the entire defense. If one of the defenders is sagging off a shooter, he will pass the basketball to the shooter for an open 3-pointer.

On the other hand, if everyone stays home, he will study everything about his defender to determine the next course of action. If the defender decided to sag off of him, LeBron would take the open jumper. But, if the defender played him tight, he will attempt to drive towards the basket for a score, to draw a foul or attract a double team.

LeBron’s ball-dominant style has been the primary catalyst behind him averaging 82.68 touches per game (77 + 81.9 + 78.1 + 88.1 + 87.1 + 83.9)/6 over the past six NBA seasons. The vast amount of touches forces his teammates to spend a significant amount of time off the ball in the role of a bystander or 3-point shooter.

For example, Kyrie Irving saw a significant increase in his 3-point field goal attempts when LeBron James decided to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers before the 2014-15 season.

Before the 2014-15 season, Kyrie Irving took 24.6 percent of his field goal attempts from behind the arc. In the following three seasons with LeBron, he saw a 4.2 increase in his 3-point field goal attempts.

Unfortunately, an increase in 3-point field goal attempts won’t be a positive for Jimmy Butler as shooting is the biggest weakness in his game. Jimmy Butler has a career 3-point shooting percentage of 34.1 percent ( making 0.9 3’s in 2.7 attempts) in eight seasons.

Jimmy’s 3-point percentage has been 1.4 percent lower than the league average [(34.9 +35.9 + 36 + 35 + 35.4 +35.8 + 36.1 + 35.5)/8 = 35.57] during this span.

Consequently, opponents will always leave him open when he does not have the basketball to double team LeBron James because they aren’t worried about his shooting. Therefore, the team should focus on surrounding LeBron James with shooters as I’ve mentioned before (How the Lakers can build a championship contender).