As LeBron James heads into his 17th season in the NBA, he will reportedly be starting at a brand new position. Per Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, the Lakers intend to move James to point guard when the 2019-2020 season begins, with newly-inked Danny Green as his backcourt mate.
James has played de facto point guard for much of his career, in both of his stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and for stretches with the Miami Heat. All three franchises, including the Lakers last season, have made overtures about getting him off the ball more during the offseason, but because of James’ playmaking ability and elite court vision, his usage rate has hovered around 30 percent for much of the last decade. With Lonzo Ball in New Orleans as part of the deal to bring Anthony Davis to Los Angeles, the point guards currently on the Lakers roster are Quinn Cook, Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso.
Haynes also reports that LeBron has fully recovered from the groin injury that caused him to appear in just 55 games last season, the biggest amount of time he’s missed in his career. James also missed the postseason for the first time since his sophomore year in the NBA. LeBron was going to be the Lakers primary ball handler anyway. Now he just has the official title.
