Lakers teammates LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Rui Hachimura all competed in a free-throw contest during a recent practice. The team is fresh off a loss to the Kings this week that saw them fall to just six wins and four losses in their last ten games. This weekend, the Lakers will face off against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
Before that, the team held practice on Friday, where LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Rui Hachimura all competed in a free-throw contest. The team is currently sitting in the bottom half of the league in terms of free throw shooting.
Teams like the OKC Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers sit in first and second place with free throw percentages over 80%. The Lakers, however, sit in 19th place among all teams, with a free throw percentage of just 77.2%.
The recent loss to the Kings saw the Lakers match their season average as the team shot 17/22 from the charity stripe for a percentage of 77.3%. With their sights set on a successful play-in tournament run before making it into the postseason, the team made sure to get free throws up during practice.
Check out the video of the three teammates working on their free throw shooting below.
Looking at the free throw percentages of Lakers teammates LeBron James, Anthony Davis & Rui Hachimura
Throughout his career, one of the criticisms of LeBron James was his efficiency at the line. This specifically became a major talking point among the NBA community during his time with the Miami Heat alongside Dwyane Wade & Chris Bosh.
Along with his efficiency in clutch moments, critics pointed to LeBron's efficiency at the charity stripe as one of his weaknesses. Throughout his career, LeBron James has shot 73.5% from the free throw line, while this season he's shot 74.1% from the line.
This year has, of course, also seen LeBron shoot a career-high from downtown at 40.3%, compared to a career average of 34.7%.
In the case of Anthony Davis, the big man is also shooting ahead of his career free-throw percentage of 79.5%. This season, Davis is shooting 81.3% from the charity stripe. This marks his best free-throw shooting season since the 2019-20 season, where he shot 84.6% from the line.
In the case of Rui Hachimura, the sixth-year player is shooting 71.3% from the charity stripe this season. The figure is significantly below his career-average of 76.0%.
In addition, Hachimura's season free throw percentage of 71.3% marks the third year in a row that he has seen his average from the free throw line drop. Given that the Lakers have continued to struggle, it certainly doesn't come as a surprise to see them focusing on their free throw shooting.
