If there’s been one knock on LeBron James‘ career, it’s that his free-throw shooting has never quite been up to par with that of other elite NBA superstars. And it’s not as if LeBron is bad from the line; it’s just that he’s been a perfectly mediocre 74 percent for his career. But through the first two weeks of the season, that number has dipped to around 55 percent. In three out of the Cavs’ first five games, he’s shot 60 percent or worse from the charity stripe.
It’s obviously a sore spot for the four-time MVP, because he apparently worked on his free throws into the wee hours. And, being the millennial athlete-celebrity that he is, James made sure to post it on Instagram while he was at it.
In his duel with Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks Wednesday night, he had a particularly poor shooting night, going just 39 percent from the field and 20 percent from three, which ultimately led to him Hulking-out on the sleeved jersey that he and others claim constricts their shooting form. It’s obviously too early in the season for it to be a real concern yet, but will 2015-2016 finally be the year that we see one of the league’s legendarily bad free throw shooters (ahem, DeAndre Jordan) just say screw it and hoist up a granny shot, Rick-Barry-style?
