LeBron James has said before that he has nothing left to prove to anyone in his NBA career. But it’s clear that he has his own goals to achieve before he retires.
James shared one of those goals in an ESPN story about how he’s changed his shooting style because of an elbow injury. James hurt himself during offseason training and decided to keep shooting through the injury, finding a style that caused the least amount of pain possible.
That change in form, however, has thus far given him a smoother, more accurate stroke. And James thinks this new form can make him reach a new goal before he retires.
“I want to shoot 80 (percent) from the free throw line, man,” James told ESPN. “That’s my only goal. That’s my last goal of my NBA career. That’s my last one. I’ve done everything else.”
James is a career 74 percent shooter, and in his best season (2008-09) he shot 78 percent from the line. But teammate Kyle Korver thinks James is selling himself short, and the can shoot 90 percent from the free throw line.
“Your last goal is 80?” Korver asked James according to Dave McMenamin. Instead, Korver thinks he should shoot for something higher: “50-40-90.”
That’s shooting at least 50 percent from the field; 40 percent or better from 3 and 90 percent or better from the foul line. A much tougher goal, but one James is interested in anyway.
“I can go 50-40-85,” James said. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
Where James thinks he can achieve these goals is also something only he knows, but at least we know what he’ll be shooting for when he takes the court there.
