3 ways that LeBron James is killing the Lakers right now

Over the course of his 22-year NBA career, an entire cottage industry has thrived based solely on criticizing LeBron James. People like Skip Bayless have made it their life's mission to hot-take one of the greatest basketball players that has ever lived into oblivion, but through the years, LeBron has invariably gotten the last laugh as he's won championships and broken records again and again.

Because of this, it's long been impossible to have a nuanced conversation about LeBron. Any criticism, fair or not, can get you labeled as a hater. Any praise, however deserved, makes you a LeBron stan. It's a symptom of a larger problem with the world we live in, but it seems magnified when talking about this man that has been the most dominant force in the league for much of his career.

The Los Angeles Lakers are built around LeBron and Anthony Davis, but with five losses in their last seven games, they've clearly hit a rough patch. L.A. is now 12-9 after getting blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. LeBron and AD picked a bad time to each have their worst game of the season, and the result was a sorry 80-point effort that is the lowest score put forth by an NBA team this year.

LeBron has valiantly fought off Father Time more successfully than nearly anyone in NBA history. To still be an All-NBA player in his late 30s is quite an accomplishment, but Lakers fans would be forgiven for wondering if his recent stretch of subpar play is more a sign of what's to come than just a blip on the radar.

At the risk of being labeled a hater, the question needs to be asked — What's wrong with LeBron? And more importantly, is there any hope that he can turn it around?

The Lakers have depended on LeBron to do it all this year, but there are three ways that he's killing the team, especially lately. Let's examine each one and figure out if these problems are here to stay.

After lighting it up in the first month of the season from outside, LeBron has gone ice-cold

After going 0-4 from 3 against the Wolves, LeBron has now failed to hit a 3 in four straight games. In total, he's missed 19 3-pointers in a row, which is six away from the NBA record for long-range futility.

What's so perplexing about LeBron's run of bricks is that through the first few weeks of the season, he was on pace to shatter his own personal record for 3-point percentage, which he set last year at 41.0 percent.

Through the first 15 games of the year, LeBron was 37-of-86, which is over 43 percent. In the six games since, he's 3-of-30, or just 10 percent. That's brought his total all the way down to 34.5 percent on the year. That's below league average and a big reason why the Lakers have tailed off so dramatically lately.

The fact that LeBron set a career best from outside last season probably means that this is just a shooting slump that should end soon. One of the best players of all-time didn't suddenly forget how to shoot.

LeBron is the oldest active player in the NBA, but he's still playing over 35 minutes per game while beig asked to essentially run the offense as a point forward. Tired legs beget poor shooting, and just as I did last week, I'll again advocate for a slight reduction in LeBron's minutes to better help him get through the grind of the season. A little extra rest could not only ward off injury, it could help him regain his missing shooting touch.

LeBron is turning the ball over way too much

Shooting the ball inefficiently is bad enough in today's offense-forward NBA, but when you compound that by turning that ball over at a high rate, it creates an environment where winning is nearly impossible.

As we said previously, LeBron has a lot on his plate when it comes to running the offense. The demotion of D'Angelo Russell to the bench has put even more playmaking responsibility in his hands, and though he's near the league lead in assists with over nine per game, he's also top five in turnovers with four per game.

Lately, it's been even worse. LeBron has turned it over 57 times in his past 11 games, a rate that would easily lead the league. Many of those giveaways lead to easy baskets on the other end, a major factor in why the Lakers are the worst team in the NBA in transition points allowed.

Turnovers have always been part of the package when it comes to LeBron. He's always been a high-usage player, but this is the first time since he's been on the Lakers and the only time other than his last two Cleveland seasons that he's averaging four turnovers per game.

Unfortunately, the Lakers don't have a lot of options on the roster to help LeBron in his ballhandling duties. Austin Reaves does what he can, but Russell is more likely to be traded than to return to the starting lineup. This is an area that's not going to improve unless LeBron makes it a priority to take better care of the ball.

LeBron's defense has been slipping for years, but it's never been worse than it is right now

LeBron created the most indelible defensive highlight in NBA history when he chased down Andre Iguodala for a stunning block in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. This is a guy that finished as the runner-up for the Defensive Player of the Year twice and has made six All-Defensive teams.

LeBron's continued prodigious offensive output has made it appear as though his game hasn't slipped, but the defensive end tells another story. LeBron used to be a stopper, but now he's just a shell of what he once was.

The Lakers are a bad defensive team, which is unbelievable considering that they have Anthony Davis, one of the best defensive players in the game, playing center for them. It's true, though. L.A. is 24th in team defensive rating, and every team below them is 9-12 or worse.

With players like Reaves, Russell and Dalton Knecht soaking up minutes, the Lakers are never going to be a good defensive team, but they're markedly worse because of LeBron. He's still capable of the occasional highlight block, but he just can't give the same effort on that end of the court that he used to (let's revisit the rest idea, maybe?).

LeBron has been declining defensively for years, and in fact this is the fourth year in a row that his individual defensive rating has gotten worse, as it's now at an awful 116.9. At this point in his career, he's not going to be able to suddenly transform into a stout defender, but the Lakers could make his life easier by putting better defensive pieces around him. Trading Reaves and Russell would be a start, and would give head coach JJ Redick a chance to cover for one bad defender on the court instead of three.