For the current Lakers, is James return a good thing or a bad thing?

Looking at the record list for the 2025-26 season, with 10 wins and 4 losses, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be back.

They don't have the Thunder's dominant winning rate, nor do they have the Nuggets' stable offensive and defensive system, and they still maintain their position in the top half of the Western Conference; but as the Lakers play more and more smoothly, a question mark quietly appears:

It comes from the 40-year-old LeBron James.

Due to sciatica, he has not played yet this season. With the Lakers' excellent record, James is more like a bystander, watching the Lakers without him become better and better.

This is also the current situation of the Lakers. They have begun to find the right system, and they are not even allowed to change any situation:

Doncic, as the absolute core, plays the role of ball-handling organization; Reeves is the second ball-holding core; Ayton sits inside; Hachimura is responsible for outside shooting; Smart is the defensive commander of the back line.

In addition to the core rotation, other green leaf puzzle pieces perform their own duties.

When all five players on the field know their jobs, the team is not without problems; or even not just external opponents, but all internal and external factors may bring danger.

The most critical one is James.

Although he is already a 40-year-old veteran, he is not an ordinary rotation. When core players return to the team, the most direct impact is on the team system. It’s just that whether this impact is an upgrade of the system or a disruption of balance is currently difficult to determine.

From the perspective of the team's strength, once James returns, he will naturally be a must-have option in the starting lineup. Then the question arises:

Who among the current starting five will be removed? Is it Hachimura? Or Smart?

The first hypothesis is that if James is used to replace Rui Hachimura, on the surface, James is a comprehensive version of Hachimura; but the problem is that Hachimura is currently the most stable off-ball firepower in the Lakers:

The three-point shooting rate is 50%, ranking second in the league; the true shooting rate is 68.6%;

An excellent off-ball threat, the offense does not occupy the ball, and the defense is active enough.

James can naturally take on some of these tasks, but his advantage lies in his versatility, rather than his specialization like Hachimura. If Rui Hachimura is removed, the most direct impact will be that the Lakers' original perimeter space will be greatly compressed, which will directly affect the breakthrough offense of several core ball-handling players.

Looking at this aspect alone, this is not the ability gap between James and Hachimura, but the functional difference between the two.

If it is not appropriate to replace Rui Hachimura, can James replace Smart?

From the perspective of high-level data, Smart's defensive efficiency is as high as 114 this season, second only to Vanderbilt and Doncic in the main rotation; he is the Lakers' first choice to defend the opponent's outside ace, and more importantly, the rotation value of defensive command, taking into account the value of switching defense and filling in positions.

If he is rashly put on the bench, combined with James' age and mobility, it is really difficult to believe that he can maintain the same level of defensive coverage value throughout the game.

In short, it is difficult for James to specialize in one thing like Hachimura, and James cannot make up for Smart's defensive value.

And this is the real headache for the Lakers.

Of course, even if the problem of tactical rotation can be solved, the problem of team status cannot be completely ignored.

At present, Doncic has proven his offensive value with the ball, and the impact of James' return is not difficult to predict. The distribution of ball rights and role positioning need to be changed, and the playing time and rotation lineup also need to be reshuffled; even the team's focus and media focus may be biased towards James again.

This kind of change is more fatal to the Lakers' character lineup than changes in the tactical system. Especially in a traffic-heavy city like Los Angeles, any disturbance may be completely amplified.

So, from a less optimistic perspective, will James' return make the Lakers stronger? Or is it chaos?

The answer to this question is obvious. It does not lie with Redick or Doncic, but with James himself.

If James still sticks to his past ball-carrying core model after his return, the currently seemingly stable Lakers will inevitably have to go through a period of fluctuation; not because he is not strong enough, but because for this Lakers, they have created a winning structure that does not center on James.

But if James is willing to play a "new version", hold the ball less, act as the second and third starting points, participate more in off-ball responses on the weak side, and at the same time provide a more efficient three-point threat, attract double teams in the low post, and take over the team's offense at specific moments, he will still have the opportunity to make the Lakers stronger.

As a large forward with a height of 2.06cm, with top-level ball distribution vision and single-point defense value, any team can become stronger with this kind of player.

But the premise is that he needs to take the initiative to change, and after this change, he is no longer the team's first choice, not even necessarily the second choice.

And this is a challenge that James has never faced in his career. Even if he is willing to change, the final effect still needs to be verified.

In general, the Lakers' upper limit can indeed be higher because of James' return, but the current stability is also likely to be disrupted by James' return.

There is only one real answer to this question:

What version of James would the 40-year-old James prefer to be?

This is an experiment for the Lakers, and it is also the most difficult role choice in James' career. Whether the Purple and Gold Lakers can revive depends on whether this veteran legendary star is willing to sacrifice in the final stage of his career.