Lakers' Jared Dudley Says LeBron James 'Is the System', Calls 80-90% of Plays

LeBron James is not just the King.

According to James' Los Angeles Lakers teammate Jared Dudley, he is also the System.

Dudley disclosed to Newsday's Greg Logan that James calls "80 to 90 percent" of the Lakers' plays while discussing the probability that the Brooklyn Nets hire Tyronn Lue as their new head coach. Dudley played for the Nets in 2018-19 before joining the Lakers and had Lue as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013-14.

Dudley said: 

"With superstar players, it’s a partnership. When you're not dealing with superstars, coaches want players to fit their system. But superstars are the system. The Warriors, when Kevin Durant came, they played more iso ball than the year before. Kevin Durant made them change who they were because of his talent.

"Our thing here is that LeBron is the system. The coach might call plays, but LeBron is calling 80 to 90 percent of the plays when he’s in there. Now coach (Frank Vogel) is really great on Xs and Os out of timeouts."

James' case for the 2019-20 NBA MVP surged prior to the league announcing the suspension of all games for at least 30 days during the coronavirus outbreak:

Dudley chimed in:

James' individual excellence has permeated throughout the Lakers' revamped roster. L.A. clinched its first playoff berth since the 2012-13 campaign after defeating the league-best 53-10 Milwaukee Bucks 113-103 on March 6:

The 49-14 Lakers hold the fourth-best offensive rating and seventh-best scoring offense (114.3 points per game). At 35 years old, James is averaging 25.7 points, 10.6 assists, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34.9 minutes across 60 starts.