The Lakers early season offense is nowhere to be found, and it might not get better soon

As LeBron James inches closer to age 40, Father Time appears to be knocking on the door. The all-time great has accomplished a lot throughout his storied career. He's managed to play 22 seasons in the NBA — long enough to play alongside his own son. He's won four championships, earned four MVPs and garnered 20 All-NBA nods.

But in the twilight of his career, James is no longer the unstoppable force that dominated the courts for over two decades. James had high lofty goals for the 2024-25 NBA season. Through the early stages, he's been a liability.

The Los Angeles Lakers began the season with a 10-4 record through the opening month, but they've dropped five of their seven last games. James has struggled, and the Lakers offense has plummeted alongside him.

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Lakers offensive struggles only seem to be getting worse

The Lakers are ranked No. 23 in offensive rating over their past 10 games, and things aren't trending in the right direction. Over the past five games, only the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans have a worse offensive rating than the Lakers.

James has averaged 7.8 rebounds and 9.0 assists in those five games, but he hasn't been able to much else. He's made just 39.6 percent of his shots, including 2-of-26 (7.7 percent) from 3-point range. He's had at least five turnovers in four of those five games.

The Lakers suffered a 109-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. The blowout marked Los Angeles' lowest scoring output since the 2016-17 season, and James scored just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting to go along with six turnovers. He has now missed 19 consecutive shots from 3-point range across four games.

The struggles have infected the entire Lakers team. Los Angeles has shot under 30 percent on 3-pointers over the past three games, and the team has eclipsed 104 points just once in their past six games.

“Our offense is nasty right now,” James said, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

The team has been inconsistent on offense and defense. They've struggled on both ends of the court at different points of the season and have failed to put together a balanced game. Seven of their wins came against teams with losing records, and they're only 5-8 against teams above .500.

As they head into the second quarter of the season, the Lakers currently sit at No. 8 in the Western Conference. If James doesn't want to end his career with a whimper, he'll have to turn things around quickly.