What LeBron James is doing this season for the Lakers, especially in recent games, should deserve serious consideration as an MVP. Not to mention, the 2023-22 season is his 19th year in the league after all the playoff miles on his body.

However, he is not in the top five of NBA.com’s latest MVP scale and is not even mentioned in Basketball Reference’s MVP tracker with the top 10 candidates. That’s almost entirely because the Lakers haven’t been able to win games and, in some cases, even appear competitive.

Since Anthony Davis injured his MCL in Minnesota, ruling him out for a period of four to six weeks, James has been racking up superhuman numbers, but it hasn’t affected the Lakers’ results.

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To be precise, in six games, LeBron is averaging 34.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks on split shots of 57.0 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from beyond the arc and 81.8 percent from the line. free throws.

James has scored 36 or more points in three of these six games, and most recently at Memphis on Wednesday night, he scored eight 3-pointers, which tied a career-high.

The 1-5 record, despite those numbers, is a testament to the flawed construction of his team’s roster, which has been made worse with his early-season injuries and recent absences due to health and safety protocols. league security.

I say “flawed” due to the team’s heavy reliance on a player who is scheduled to turn 37. Here’s a look at the final possession of his game against the Grizzlies on Wednesday:

Through these six games, the Lakers have only sat James for a total of 63 minutes and have taken a beating in that span of time.

The team posts an offensive rating of 80.3 with James on the bench, setting a horrendous net rating of -37.5. Those numbers look very, very different with James on the floor: an offensive rating of 113.4 and a net rating of -1.5.

The Lakers will return to Los Angeles for a five-game home stay, beginning with a showdown against the Trail Blazers on Friday, December 31.