If you get the chance and have not yet heard it directly from him, I implore you to listen to Magic Johnson tell the story about his performance in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had been injured a game earlier and the Lakers, even though they had a 3-2 series lead, were considered left for dead by nearly everyone.
Maybe they could win in Game 7 back in Los Angeles if Kareem’s ankle healed up in time, but they had no chance heading back to Philly to face Dr. J and the Sixers on the road.
As Magic tells it, however, he was unfazed.
He sat in Jabbar’s seat on the plane and told his teammates, “Never fear, Magic is here”, and then went and told his coaches that he wanted play center in place of Kareem. As if the idea wasn’t audacious enough, his explanation that he’d “played center in high school” and “would go back to being more of a scorer while playing more like a big man” sounded even crazier.
Sure, man. You’re just gonna treat theNBA Finals like a trip back to Lansing, Michigan and channel the 17-year-old version of yourself and dominate grown men. No problem.
And then Magic went out and did exactly what he said he’d do, having one of the most iconic single-game performances in the history of the game when he scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and dished out seven assists to clinch the championship.
There may never be a greater example of a player being a shape-shifter than what Magic did that night. As the great Brent Musburger said in summarizing Magic’s night, “he jumped at center, played forward and guard and leads the Lakers to the world championship...”.
When the Lakers traded Anthony Davis for Luka Dončić, there was a small yet vocal group of critics who instantly cast doubt on what this trade meant for the Lakers and how good they could be in the immediate aftermath of the deal.
It wasn’t that they doubted the talent of Dončić or even of the players he’d be joining, but the fit, they argued, was not there, particularly between Luka and LeBron James. Charles Barkley articulated this argument best – or worst, depending on your vantage point – when he went on ESPN’s “Get Up” program after the deal's consummation.
“Nobody who knows anything about basketball thinks LeBron and Luka can play together,” Barkley bellowed in his signature drawl. “Both of those guys are great, but neither one of them can play without the ball. This is the first decision I think the Lakers have ever made where they’re like, ‘You know what, it’s over or almost over for LeBron. We’ve got to do something for the future.’ And that’s what they did, in my opinion.”
Putting aside Barkley’s penchant for being both loud and wrong, or the gray area that almost always exists that blowhards spitting out takes on television rarely acknowledge lest they be mistaken as reasonable, the underlying point of his criticism – that both superstars need the ball and that neither were good playing without it – is a popularly professed misconception of LeBron in general, but particularly in recent seasons.
Since trades for Russell Westbrook and D’Angelo Russell and the parallel role expansion of evolving Austin Reaves into a higher usage threat, LeBron has steadily ceded on-ball reps to teammates who would use those chances to increase their production and potentially help the team.
One only needs to look at LeBron’s growth as a spot-up shooter and steady uptick in assisted baskets over the last several years to see how he has modified his game to account for fewer possessions where things flowed through him directly.
Beyond this sort of shift as more of an off-ball player, though, what impresses me more about LeBron is his ability to simply morph into a different type of player archetype and from an entirely different position base.
I mean, it’s one thing to become more of an off-ball worker who increases his number of catch-and-shoot threes or who seeks out more opportunities to act as a cutter as the type of perimeter-based player he’s been most of his career. But it’s quite another to take on the tendencies of a big man by setting more screens on and off the ball, serving as a dive man in the pick and roll and posting up more to complement those guards you’re ceding possessions to.
And since the Dončić deal, and especially in the last several games, this is exactly what LeBron has been doing.
Against the Grizzlies, LeBron dribbled into post ups where he could either score or pass, operated in two-man game actions with Austin Reaves where he set screens and either dove hard to the rim or forced a switch where he could post up a smaller player, or found himself in the short roll where he could serve as a playmaker for others in 4-on-3 situations.
And then against the Rockets, with the Lakers playing small-ball units for all but the 14 minutes that Jaxson Hayes logged, LeBron not only continued this style of offensive attack but took on those same sorts of big-man responsibilities on the defensive side of the ball.
In the type of hard-hat wearing performance that would make Jarred Vanderbilt or Dorian Finney-Smith proud, Bron defended young All-Star big man Alperen Şengün in isolation and got multiple stops, boxed out and swooped in for several important defensive rebounds. He also served as an interior defender willing to both stand in there and take a charge or come weakside and block a shot on a critical defensive possession.
As if his play doesn’t already show it, LeBron is also on the record explaining that he fully understands how he can adapt his game to playing different styles within the context of this current roster in order to help the team, saying as much in a recent episode of his ”Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash.
“When I know that it’s for the betterment of the team and, ultimately, for us to reach our [peak], I’m able to adapt to whatever position needs to be done,” LeBron said. “In this case, understanding how great Luka is, how on the rise Austin is, I can do things that affect the game still that benefits our team.”
In some ways, then, the trade that sent out AD and brought back Luka was less a swap of superstar big for superstar perimeter player, but rather a nuanced game of musical chairs where the Lakers brought in the type of shot creating big wing who could take over some of the responsibilities LeBron has traditionally been relied upon for, only to then have Bron slide up into some of the role that Davis vacated.
Of course, as simple as that sounds, it will never be exactly that, nor should it be; LeBron should never be only one thing for the Lakers — his talent is too immense, his skill level too high, his physical gifts too great.
On one side of the floor, he’ll stone your center on a post up. On the other end, he’ll dissect you in the pick and roll as the ball handler.
Two possessions later, he might close out on a ball handler, contain the dribble, and then force a miss on a jumper only to then take the ball the other way, dribble into a DHO, catch a pass on a short roll, back into a post up, and then score in traffic.
And that is the beauty of a shape shifter.
Just like Magic showed us 45 years ago against Philly in that fateful Game 6. Only this time, it’s not a rookie, but instead is a player in his 22nd season, still evolving and reinventing himself and showing exactly how much of a skeleton key he can be to help his team win.
You can follow Darius on BlueSky at@forumbluegold.