The numbers have been hard to ignore all season, and now one of the NBA’s most prominent analysts has put forward his explanation for what is actually going on. The Los Angeles Lakers have been statistically better without LeBron James on the court, and Chris Broussard believes he knows exactly why.
It has less to do with age than most people think.
Chris Broussard: ‘Twenty-Two Years as a Superstar, You Can’t Be a Role Player’
Speaking on First Things First, Broussard laid out his theory in detail. His argument is not that James has declined beyond usefulness; rather, it is that the very nature of who James is makes it structurally impossible for the Lakers’ offense to function the way it needs to when he is on the floor alongside Luka Dončić.
“The Lakers need LeBron to be Chris Bosh or Kevin Love,” Broussard said. “When you have a ball-dominant, overdribbling superstar who is also your best scorer, you can only have one other big scorer… Now, when it is just Austin Reaves and no LeBron, everybody else knows their role. They can have success. LeBron comes in, and he just can’t be a role player.”
Broussard was quick to acknowledge that this is not a criticism of James’ intelligence or desire. He compared the situation directly to what happened later in the careers of Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson — generational superstars who faced the same structural problem when asked to operate at a reduced capacity.
“He’s smart enough to know what he could do,” Broussard said. “But twenty-two years as a superstar, you can’t be a role player.”
“22 years as a superstar, you can’t be a role player… His presence on the court, because of his greatness and what he means to basketball…they just defer naturally.”@Chris_Broussard explains why the Lakers play more freely when LeBron isn’t on the court: pic.twitter.com/auD6HM22fE
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) March 9, 2026
The deeper issue, as Broussard framed it, goes beyond ego or habit. It is about the unconscious effect James has on everyone around him simply by being on the floor. “His presence on the court, because of his greatness and what he means to basketball… they just defer naturally,” he said.
Teammates are instinctively looking for cues from James, reading his movements, gauging his patterns, and waiting for permission to operate freely, even when nobody is asking them to. The result is an offense that stalls in ways that disappear the moment he sits down.
The numbers are striking enough to make that case difficult to argue with. The Lakers are 9-2 this season in games where James does not play, but Dončić and Reaves both do. Dončić and Reaves’ net rating stands at +16.9 across 329 minutes together.
The LeBron-Dončić pairing, by contrast, sits at -3.5 across 498 minutes. All three together check in at just +1.5. As Broussard noted, “The numbers clearly say they are much better without him.”
Broussard was careful to clarify the limits of his argument. “I still feel like in a playoff series they have a better chance with LeBron than without him, because of his experience and all of that stuff,” he said. “But the numbers clearly say they are much better without him.”
What the Numbers Show, and What It Means for the Lakers’ Future
Sunday’s 110-97 win over the New York Knicks without James was the latest illustration. Dončić dropped 35 points while Reaves added 25, combining for 60 of the team’s 110 points.
The defense tightened dramatically, forcing 19 turnovers and holding one of the East’s best offenses to 42.7% from the field and 20 points below its scoring average. Coach JJ Redick was measured in his assessment afterward. “We’re 15-9 over the last 24 games. We’re a top-10 offense and one of the top-15 defenses. That’s what we wanted when we started the season with this group,” he said.
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Dončić, for his part, spoke glowingly about what Reaves brings to the partnership. “Playing with him is very easy because he attracts a lot of attention and also helps others. He makes my life easier,” he said.
The broader context adds another layer of weight to the conversation. James’ contract expires in June, and his future with the Lakers is widely viewed as unlikely. Relations between the franchise and the player are reportedly strained, and the team has already begun building its identity around Dončić.
A return to Cleveland has been floated as a possibility, and retirement is not off the table either.
For now, the Lakers sit at 39-25, fifth in the Western Conference and one game behind the third-place Timberwolves. Getting all three stars functioning together in the playoffs remains the stated goal. But Broussard’s analysis cuts to something the numbers keep reinforcing: the path to making it work may be narrower than the Lakers would like to admit.
