Lakers' LeBron James Explains How Spurs Helped Him Improve Early in Career

Mike ChiariNov 26, 2019

After passing Peja Stojakovic for 18th on the all-time three-pointers made list Monday, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James credited the San Antonio Spurs with pushing him to improve his shot over the years.

According to Spectrum Sports (h/t ESPN's Dave McMenamin), James said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich's defensive system forced him to develop all areas of his game:

"I just want to be able to not have any weaknesses, you know, and allow a defense to dictate what I do. Because of the Spurs, in a lot of my early years, [they are] part of the reason why my jump shot is a lot better today. My first Finals appearance in '07, they went under on everything, and I didn't shoot the ball. I wasn't comfortable with shooting the ball at that point in time in my career. So I give a lot of thanks to their scheme, a lot of thanks to a lot of other teams that I went against."

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LeBron made four trifectas and finished with a game-high 33 points in L.A.'s 114-104 win, which moved the Lakers to 15-2.

James has now made 1,761 threes during his career on 5,125 attempts (34.4 percent). He made 100 or more threes in just two of his first four seasons, but he has hit that mark in six of the past seven seasons entering 2019-20.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel added: "Well, there are phases of your career, and you got to have different weapons. The last few years, he's really improved as a three-point shooter. If he's going to beat you over the top, I don't know how you guard him."

Few have been able to guard James throughout his career, especially this season. The Lakers are the best team in the NBA by record, and LeBron is perhaps the MVP front-runner with averages of 25.6 points, 11.0 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game.

After missing 27 games because of injury last season, there were some questions regarding whether James was nearing the end of the line. Despite being just about a month shy of his 35th birthday, LeBron is showing he may still be the best player in the world.

With LeBron and Anthony Davis leading the way, the Lakers are perhaps the favorites to win the NBA championship despite having not reached the playoffs since 2013.

The Lakers will look to keep rolling Wednesday when they face Davis' former team in the struggling New Orleans Pelicans.