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LeBron James Should 100% Go for the Scoring Title

I should start by saying that I am something of a LeBron apologist. Inexplicably (to me), he has a long list of naysayers on the internet, and even a few on TV. To use the parlance of our times, his resume is unfuckwithable, so that aspect of LeBron haterdom is nonsense. If you want to say he's corny because of his, well, corny internet persona, that's acceptable, but that doesn't take away from what he's done for basketball and what he's done with a basketball.

But the conversation around whether or not he should play in 2 of LA's final 3 games and try to secure the scoring title has turned into madness. Here is a list of reasons why he should unquestionably go for the scoring title.

1. He's old.

If you follow LeBron on any social media sites, you might know that he's kind of old. #washedking #year19 etc. Yes it's annoying. Yes it's kind of dorky. But it's true. We've been saying for years that this guy HAS to eventually show signs of aging and slow down. He can't keep playing at a top-10 level forever. He can't keep dropping 50 every couple of weeks. He can't keep soaring for fastbreak dunks.

The truth is, he really can't. This season has shown some minor limitations. He's getting hurt more often, he's exploding a little less on his monstrous dunks. When he takes over, it's really only on offense. He's aging. A little.

There is no way he will still be in the running for the scoring title next season. A huge part of the reason he's in the running this year is because Russ Westbrook sucks and Anthony Davis gets injured every two weeks (as I type out that sentence, I realize that if those are the root causes for LBJ being in the scoring title race this season, both of those things are near guarantees to happen again next year, so...). The Lakers have two other guys who were supposed to carry the offensive burden and make life easier for Bron, and neither has been anything resembling what they wanted/expected. 

If this season isn't his last chance, it's certainly his last best chance, given the uncertainty of next season's roster and next season's health. Why not try to get one more feather in the cap?

Furthermore, while there's all this conversation about how selfish it would be for him to come back and play in 2 of their final 3 totally meaningless games, wouldn't it completely swing the narrative if he talked to the media before the game and said "Look. I'm 37. I can't expect to be the top scorer in the league much longer, and I've only done it once in my entire career. I think it would be really cool to say I accomplished that at my age, so I want to play."

Wouldn't that be awesome? And humanizing? And just...cool? That's what I hope happens.

2. There are always risks

I assume the big concern on everyone's mind is that LeBron gets hurt in these meaningless games. First off, he's already hurt and he's about to have a loonnngggg offseason full of #tacotuesday and #boatlife as he sails the Mediterranean or wherever. Second-of-ly, there's always a risk in basketball and he's got the clout to override the "you should sit this one out" mandate that may come from Lakers brass.

This argument just doesn't hold water to me. If you don't want him to get hurt, don't play. And if you don't want him to play in meaningless games, have a better team.

3. The Lakers love to be in the news

This would be an even bigger check in the "pro" column if the Lakers' last two games were at home, but only one is. Can you imagine if LeBron went into the finals Lakers home game needing to score like 45 points to lock up a scoring title? The buzz around the Lakers would be ENORMOUS. It wouldn't be Kobe's-last-game big, but it would be huge. The Lakers LOVE being big news. It drives traffic to everything Lakers, increases the mystique, and is another thing that the Buss family can put on the all-time Lakers resume: 17 titles (sort of ), 28 hall of famers, 4 scoring titles, 8 MVPs, 11 retired jerseys, a hard-to-find number of All-NBA selections, and a bunch more other stuff. But only 4 scoring titles? The Lakers could use a 5th.

4. Drama

The ripple effect of LeBron coming in and scoring 50 in a meaningless game against OKC on Friday night while Joel Embiid is still battling for playoff seeding (albeit against crappy teams) over the weekend is just too delicious to pass up.


So please NBA/Lakers/LeBron. Do the right thing.

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