Why LeBron, Lakers Can't Seriously Complain About How They're Officiated
Less than a month into the 2023-24 NBA season, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have already launched a campaign to get more calls from the league's referees.
"The Los Angeles Lakers contacted the NBA league office Tuesday about what they view as numerous missed foul calls in Monday's 108-107 loss to the Miami Heat," ESPN's Dave McMenamin wrote. "The Lakers' main point of contention is how LeBron James was officiated, according to sources. The Lakers shared various clips showing what they believe to be clear illegal contact by Heat defenders against James that went unnoticed by the referees."
The general substance of L.A.'s current complaint is out of bounds, but there were certainly some individual no-calls worth arguing.
Early in the second quarter of the loss to Miami, LeBron drove left on Jaime Jaquez Jr., went up for a layup and missed. LeBron shrugged and looked at the official, seemingly wondering why Jaquez wasn't called for a foul for some contact on the back.
Toward the end of the third quarter, he blew by Duncan Robinson at the three-point line after a hesitation dribble, challenged Thomas Bryant at the rim and got hammered.
There was no call there either, and that was one of the plays L.A. sent to the league office, according to McMenamin.
The Jaquez play could go either way. Contact like that happens on countless drives over the course of a season. Some of it is called. Some of it isn't. Missing the call on Bryant is bad, but it's not like the Lakers can prove intent on that. No ref is perfect. Calls get missed.
But the idea that there might be some concerted effort to keep LeBron James off the free-throw line flies in the face of 20 years of observation and stats.
As McMenamin noted, LeBron's average for free-throw attempts per game is down, but he's posting the fourth-highest three-point-attempt rate of his career. More jumpers means fewer opportunities for free throws.
Even with that increase in outside shooting volume, James is still in the top 20 for total free throw attempts this season. If he stays there, it would be the 17th time in his career that he finished the season in the top 20 in that category. He's been in the top 10 in 12 seasons.
As for the the Lakers as a whole, the team is currently seventh in both free-throw-attempt rate and free-throw attempts per game. Between the regular season and playoffs last year, they took 597 more free throws than their opponents. Just saying that was the biggest gap in the league doesn't do it justice. The distance between the Lakers' plus-597 and the second-place New York Knicks (plus-203) was about the same as the distance between second and 27th.
Objectively, the Lakers get plenty of calls. But you can't fault L.A. for the gamesmanship. The leak could be viewed as an attempt to apply additional pressure on the league after last season's public apology to James, when NBA referees referred to a missed call as "gut-wrenching" and said it would cause "sleepless nights."
Going back to that well wouldn't be surprising. Over half of L.A.'s free-throw-attempt differential was accumulated after the apology, despite less than half of the season being left.
Even that might not completely satisfy the Lakers, though.
For most of his career, LeBron has been one of the best and most relentless drivers in the NBA. But no matter how much driving volume a player brings, or how famous he is, there's just no way refs are going to catch every potential foul call against him.
The Shaquille O'Neal comparison was a little easier to make in LeBron's prime, but his physical dominance and the amount of pressure he can put on the paint often makes him look like the guard or wing version of Shaq. Refs didn't know how to deal with Shaq, and they can understandably struggle with any offensive player who consistently seeks contact.
Former NBA referee Eric Lewis talked about O'Neal with Vince Carter on The VC Show.
"Shaq will get hammered, but it looked like nobody touched him," Lewis said. "He was that strong. He would go right up... I remember [Othella Harrington] was guarding him. He jumps on Shaq's back, and Shaq just took him up and dunked like he was hanging on Shaq's back."
Now, apply that quote to the Thomas Bryant clip above. LeBron undoubtedly got whacked on that drive, but he flew through it, still got the ball to the rim and landed fine. That's not to excuse the no-call, but it at least gives some reason for why officials may have missed it.
Again, refs are not perfect, and that shouldn't come as news (or an acceptable answer) to LeBron. He's one of the greatest competitors in league history. He wants every competitive advantage, especially the ones he's earned.
And he's right about the importance of moments throughout a game.
But do those moments outweigh everything else that happens over the course of 48 minutes? The refs have little to nothing to do with LeBron shooting a well-below-average 32.5 percent from three. They have little to nothing do with his 4.3 turnovers per game, which would be a career high.
It's cliche or coach-speak or however else you might want to define it, but the Lakers simply have to play through what they deem to be poor officiating. That doesn't preclude the front office from lobbying the league, though.
Their complaint shows that the organization is in the corner of its players and coaches, as The Athletic's Seth Partnow noted. And there's no harm in asking for more careful officiating.
