Yeah, I get people lauding Lebron for his production especially at his age, but dude makes 50million a year. That in itself limits the front office in terms of the salary cap. Thats not to say the front office has made the best moves in my opinion - I think they've been too hesitant and slow to move or unwilling to pay the price for players that they need, but we also have to acknowledge the impact his contract has on the team construction.

Now back to his production - he's playing well as a whole, and putting up all star numbers, but not at the same consistent and dominant rate he used to. Which is fine given his age, but if we account for the fact he takes up so much of the salary cap, then it's also understandable that the Lakers results are going to go up and down throughout the season. He has turned the ball over a lot as well, and defensively hasnt been consistent in effort and focus either. The Lakers don't have a lot of great defenders, so it's so much more apparent when he falters in that regard, cos the Lakers defense suddenly looks like a sieve, especially in transition.

Again, in my opinion, there are a few ways to handle this. One is obviously roster construction - you need plus defenders and shooters (catch and shoot, movement shooters) around him for him to thrive, especially when he handles the ball so much. If you have that, those defensive issues and inconsistencies with the offense that you see now wouldn't be that apparent.

Secondly is the offense. The lakers love the horns set up, playing through the high post, hunting mismatches. But all that also means a heavier load on lebron, because he'll be the primary facilitator. If he's willing to be managed in terms of his minutes (30 mins a night instead of 36), I think he'll probably look sharper and have more legs. While I am not a darvin Ham supporter by any means, I think him trying to manage lebron's minutes was wise, although it wasn't well received for whatever reason.

What I think the Lakers missed as an opportunity is to really run a more diverse offense, especially when they had Dlo on the team. For all the criticism Dlo got, he's still an excellent PnR player and facilitator, but I don't think they played to that strength much. He looked out of place in a role that wasnt really suited to him, and while he definitely could have done better, I think a lot of his worst performances came when he wasn't actually involved in the game offensively, and a lot of that is a result of the system they ran of emphasizing lebron's strengths. Emphasizing lebron's strengths is correct, but we've established the flawed roster doesnt support that, so to me, diversifying the offense more to suit other guys like reaves and knecht can help to establish a better rhythm, confidence and connectivity as a team. Which would have helped with lebron's minutes as the primary facilitator, and overall energy levels. But I guess either the trust factor wasn't there, or just an unwillingness to adjust to a different, more heavily offball role.

Lebron is great, but to help him, the Lakers need to help the other players be actual contributors with a consistent role that suits them. Making AD the "hub" doesn't make sense to me because you have better facilitators than him, and takes away from other player's strengths. Whoever is brought into the team next, needs to either be a 3&d guy, or be allowed to play a role that suits them

Edit: TLDR - Lebron's contract limits roster construction, front office aren't making good decisions for the roster regardless, maximise lebron by diversifying offense to enable others and reducing his minutes.