LeBron James Reveals Way to Stop ‘Manipulative’ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

LeBron James and his Lakers have not been able to figure out how to defeat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his Thunder.

LeBron James Reveals Way to Stop ‘Manipulative’ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and LeBron James (Image via FirstSportz)

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Over the years, LeBron James has seen players come through with skills that are not only difficult to stop, but their ability to find ways to win eventually made them one of the all-time greats.

Be it James Harden‘s jab step threes, or Kevin Durant‘s smooth and consistent mid-range, or Nikola Jokic‘s all-round ability to control the game, the King has seen his fair share of excellence.

When it comes to reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, fans have a different opinion on how good he is. While there is no doubting the fact that he is a walking bucket, the way he gets his points has become a sour topic for fans, purists, and analysts.

Roughly a quarter of his season points total has come from free throws. As he has made it a habit of being able to draw opponents into fouls, many have scoffed at his sometimes blatant attempts.

You’ve got to keep him off the free-throw line, which is hard… He knows how to manipulate the game in a good way… He’s always looking for hands, arms, and elbows if you’re in his space, that’s just our game right now.

LeBron James said on the Mind the Game podcast

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar was essentially giving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his flowers. At the same time, he subtly mentioned that anyone facing the Thunder star has to avoid getting in his space, as he would exploit any situation available to him.

James believes it is imperative that opponents avoid giving him free throws. Once he exploits that segment of the game, his scoring takes an easy 10-point leap, and coupled with the foul trouble, it effectively hands OKC an easy road to victory.

LeBron James and his Lakers hope to be better against OKC than their 1st game

As per LeBron James‘ elite basketball IQ, there are ways to avoid getting sucked into Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s ways.

LeBron James defending against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
LeBron James defending against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Image via KlawWrld/X)

The last time the Lakers played the reigning NBA champions, they gave the Finals MVP nine easy free throw attempts. Coupled with their lackluster shooting, they ended up losing embarrassingly to the Thunder.

James did not play then, as he was still working on making his season debut after sciatica sidelined him for over a month. Even if he plays now, if they are not careful, they could end up with another blowout loss.

The two sides next play in Los Angeles on February 9th, a week before All-Star weekend. By then, the King and his teammates should hope to get over their inconsistent form and put up a fight to avoid another embarrassment.

LeBron James gloats about his stats

This year, LeBron James has not yet reached the form that he usually does if he undergoes a full training camp. Since he missed it due to his injury, the superstar ended up having some dud games.

One of them ended up breaking his long-standing record of consecutive 10-point games. When Mind the Game co-host Steve Nash asked the Akron native about it, he said:

I’m 1st all-time in points, but I’m also 4th all-time in assists.

LeBron James replied

Essentially, the four-time champion resorted to gloating about his position on the all-time assists leaderboard when talking about his broken consecutive 10-point record.

It brought out a bout of laughter in Steve Nash, who reminded James that even as one of the all-time best passers, the Canadian was behind the Lakers’ superstar in the assists total list. However, James did say that he unintentionally created the consecutive 10-point scoring record, much like all of his other stats, as his primary focus has been winning.

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