For the last several years, people have waited for LeBron James to decline due to wear and tear. He’s in his record 23rd NBA season, and yet, he has yet to show any real signs of slippage, whether it has come to his ability, production or even his overall athleticism.
Ever since Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves suffered injuries on April 2, James has shifted back to being the Los Angeles Lakers‘ primary scorer and facilitator, and he has done so seamlessly. In the first three games of the team’s first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, he’s averaging 25.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists a game, and he’s shooting 47.4% from the field and even 43.8% from 3-point range.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, who is one of James’ biggest defenders in the media, took a shot at the people who keep doubting the NBA’s all-time leading scorer during an episode of his “Nightcap” podcast.
“Where’s that crowd that says I can’t do it?” Sharpe said. “All I know is I’m leading a team. I’m averaging 25 points, probably seven rebounds, probably seven, eight assists, and I’m leading my team. So, I’m just trying to figure out where is that crowd now. Y’all saw when Luka and AR went out, and I had to be the lead dog. Think about it. When you have a lead dog, once he can’t lead anymore, they put him in the pen.
“LeBron James is one of the few guys that’s been the lead dog for 22 and a half years because when Luka came he took a backseat to Luka. Now this year, he took a backseat not only to Luka but to AR also. But he said ‘Now look, if I really had to do this, y’all don’t think I can lead again.’”
When this series began, the Lakers were thought to have as slim a chance of winning it as a parakeet does of winning a fight with a grizzly bear. But with James leading the way and producing at the level he always has, they now hold a 3-0 series lead.
They will look to sweep the suddenly beleaguered Rockets in Game 4 on Sunday. If the Lakers win this series, especially if they do so in four straight, it will rank as one of the finer moments and accomplishments of James’ career.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Shannon Sharpe on critics who feel LeBron James is too old to produce