Lakers veteran LeBron James has recently made the transition to center, though he’ll presumably revert to his usual “point forward” role once Anthony Davis returns from injury. While the Lakers have largely benefited from that change—they’ve won four of their last five with James manning the low post—the 37-year-old’s commitment to his new position apparently has its limits. For instance, the four-time MVP wanted no part of Tuesday night’s opening tip, calmly retreating to his own end of the floor as Kings center Damian Jones gained possession by deflecting the ball, uncontested, to teammate De’Aaron Fox.
Even with James punting on the opening jump, the Lakers collected a 122-114 victory at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center), winning on the strength of 37 fourth-quarter points. James paced the Lakers with 31 while Russell Westbrook chipped in with 17 points, seven boards and two assists. Notably, Westbrook did not commit a turnover, the first time that’s happened in almost six years, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Now in his second stint with Los Angeles, Trevor Ariza was promoted to the Lakers’ starting five, making his first start for the purple and gold since June 13, 2009, which, coincidentally, was the night they clinched their 15th NBA title.
Ariza was scoreless in his 18 minutes of court time, logging three rebounds over that span. Tuesday’s triumph moved the Lakers (20-19) back over .500 with Los Angeles now trailing Denver (18-17) for fifth in the Western Conference by a single percentage point.
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