Los Angeles Lakers pie chart of blame if they miss the NBA playoffs

LeBron James

If there’s one player that it’s easy to pile on, it’s LeBron James. People have done it his entire career and there will continue to be some that think he’s the biggest reason why the Los Angeles Lakers don’t make the playoffs this season (if that ends up happening). But when we look at everything that has transpired this season, it’s hard to place any of the blame on LeBron.

Unless, of course, you want to blame him for getting hurt. But that’s an insane thing to blame on him. At the age of 38, LeBron put up historic and unbelievable numbers. He averaged 30 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists per game on 50 percent shooting from the field. He struggled from 3 this season, but he can’t do everything.

Father Time is closing in on him and while it may not fall on him in the traditional way, there are parts of his game that were impacted by it – including his durability. So if you want to blame LeBron, you can blame him for…being…old?

Blaming LeBron would make zero sense to me. He was great this season and, more often than not, the lone bright spot for the team. But he is LeBron. And he’s always going to get some blame.

Blame percentage: 5%