Why Teams Need To Start Intentionally Fouling LeBron James

It's no secret that LeBron James is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest players of all time and arguably the best player in the world to this day in his 16th season. His stats are legendary, his production is absurd, and his sustained level of dominance has to be admired. With that said, there has been one noticeable weakness throughout his career that he has yet to solve. While this weakness has not cost him any important games, it is something that has long bothered him, and has not solved to this day. His free throw shooting.

For his career, LeBron James is 74%. That's around average and it's far from horrible. However, his FT shooting this season has plummeted six points below average to 68%. If you have followed LeBron's career, especially within the past few years, you will often notice him constantly changing his form, even changing it in the middle of a game. He likes to take a step back with his left foot and go back into a shooting motion. Sometimes, he'll stay stationary, bend his back and raise up only for it to come short. Sometimes, he won't bend at all. If you want a more in-depth view of this, check out this video.

This season is his third season shooting free throws under 70% (2006-2007 and 2016-2017). Sometimes, he'd leave people mesmerized as he would drain three pointers from 35+ feet with the greatest of ease, yet free throws always seem to be a struggle for him, especially this season. He missed two late game free throws in a game against San Antonio early this season which ended up costing the Lakers a game, and LeBron would proceed to miss two free throws in a row against the Hawks, and was bailed out by a Kyle Kuzma offensive rebound.

Whatever rhyme or reason, the fact is that LeBron James is shaky from the line to say the least, especially in late game situations. As recently as last month, LeBron James was a 38% FT shooter in late game situations. In late game situations, you may often see him running away from the ball and letting guys such as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope take the late game fouls. Sometimes, he makes it clear that he is weak from the line and wants to do the team a service by ensuring its best shooter takes late game situations. He believes that making the right play includes knowing when to not get the ball to potentially cost your team points. Bearing all of these objective facts, why don't teams intentionally foul him?

Well first, his name is LeBron James. The fact of the matter is teams are far too scared to foul a big name over and over again. Perimeter players usually do not fall victim to the Hack-A-Shaq routine because they are thought to be better than big men at the line. Big men such as Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan have been victims of intentional fouling, but guess what? One of the big men have done something about it. At one point in his career, Jordan was shooting as low as 37% from the FT line. He has since then doubled that to 75% this season. Now, 75% from the line doesn't set anyone on fire, but then you have to consider that LeBron James hasn't reached that mark from the free throw line since the 2013-2014 season, five years ago.

What teams need to do is stop letting the name stop you from implementing a smart strategy. LeBron, this season at least, has not proven to hit free throws with consistency. Teams have to start forcing LeBron to make his free throws. Think about it. If one team would cover LeBron's name and recognize that he isn't a great free throw shooter, and the strategy works, other teams will start to catch on.

Now, I understand that LeBron James frequently driving to the rim is a part of the reason why teams are hesitant to do so. In addition, teams usually reserve the Hack-A-Shaq routine for percentages that ranges in the low 60s and below. That's understandable, but I would also tell opposing teams that nothing ventured, nothing gained. We've seen LeBron routinely miss free throws in late game situations, and he's had many trips where he would miss both. The best thing of all is that teams have absolutely nothing to lose. If the strategy isn't working, then just can it like you would if it was Jordan or Drummond.

LeBron James does just about everything basketball related on an elite level except shoot free throws. Teams need to start exposing the only weakness LeBron has not been able to overcome in his career. If it works, watch out.