“Decline is Real” – Fans React to LeBron James Struggling to Finish Austin Reaves’ Lob

LeBron James is still working his way back to reach the peak physical conditioning required of him to be at his best in the NBA.

“Decline is Real” – Fans React to LeBron James Struggling to Finish Austin Reaves’ Lob

LeBron James and Lakers teammate Austin Reaves (Image via FirstSportz)

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In a little over a month, LeBron James will become 41 years old. At that age, it is remarkable that the Los Angeles Lakers superstar can still hold his own against the freakishly athletic young guns currently in the NBA.

However, he has suffered some injuries that older athletes face. After sitting out a month, the 4-time champion returned in style, as he set his teammates up to defeat the Utah Jazz at home.

In the return fixture in Utah, LeBron James and his teammates had only one motive in mind, to defeat the bottom-feeder Jazz and add another win to their season total.

The Jazz, however, were not willing to back down and pushed the visitors hard enough to take the lead in the 2nd quarter. At that time, Austin Reaves gathered a rebound and ran across to the other side.

Since there was just one opponent ahead of him, he could choose to lay the ball into the net, or throw a lob for a certain LeBron James who was streaking in from behind.

The undrafted star chose the latter, and he sent the ball towards the basket, hoping his veteran teammate would score with a dunk. The only problem was that Reaves did not think about the fact that he was lobbing the ball to a nearly 41-year-old gentleman.

James had to stretch his left hand to gather the ball, but it was still a bit too far away from him. Neither could he dunk it, nor could not lay it in, as the basket seemed a bit out of reach.

Fans had varied reactions to LeBron James missing Austin Reaves lob

Basketball fans understand that at age 40, LeBron James will not have the athleticism that once made him a dominant force in the league. He now plays with intelligence, rather than his outright physical ability.

However, his inability to finish an easy lob from Austin Reaves had fans believing the end was nearer than they thought. Check out examples of those reactions below.

In LeBron James’ defense, Austin Reaves’ lob was not perfect, nor was the former’s timing on that run. Had he been a tad slower, or Reaves’ lob had a bit more speed to it, the 4-time league MVP may have dunked it with ease.

LeBron James made up for his miss with a monster dunk

After that missed alley-oop, both LeBron James and Austin Reaves seemingly hung their heads, knowing they messed up their parts, leaving their opponents with an easy run to their basket.

LeBron James, Maxi Kleber, and Luka Doncic against the Jazz
LeBron James, Maxi Kleber, and Luka Doncic against the Jazz (Image via Piratas Del Basket/X)

Later, in the 3rd quarter, with the game still close, the veteran superstar ensured there was no repeat of his mistimed jump. As soon as he saw Jazz’s Keyonte George‘s shot bouncing off the rim, James started streaking towards the opposite end of the court.

Once he noticed that Luka Doncic was about to launch a pass, the Akron native sped up and took one bounce to gather the ball, and finished with a monster one-handed tomahawk dunk.

The Lakers continued to battle late into the game and required a good defensive effort to stop the Utah Jazz from scoring at the buzzer. With their 108-106 win, the men in purple and gold return home for a 4-game stretch to defend their 2nd in the West standings.

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