Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James kept his streak of 10-plus point performances alive against the Phoenix Suns on Monday night. The Lakers lost the game, 125-108, but James scored 10 points to push his streak to an impressive 1,297 games.
While James’ streak is staggering, not everyone is impressed with how he continued it against Phoenix. After the game, former NBA player Chandler Parsons called James out for stat-padding and suggested that the Lakers are focusing on James’ legacy as opposed to the current campaign.
“I didn’t like it,” Parsons said on Run it Back. “This was the first time in my life I saw an older LeBron James who played and looked like his age. … LeBron James, he did not look like himself, which for me is the first time I’ve ever seen him like that.
“So, it was a nice gesture for J.J. [Redick] to continue to keep him in there, and he definitely was hunting for it [10 points]. He was not coming out until he got it. This just felt like the first step on the way out and kind of catering to his legacy instead of focusing on this season and the game that was already over. Congrats, I guess, but honestly I didn’t love it. It was just obvious what he was doing.”
Chandler Parsons says LeBron stat-padded to get 10 points last night and believes the Lakers are catering to his legacy instead of focusing on the season
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 2, 2025
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James definitely didn’t look like his usual self against Phoenix, as he mustered just three assists and zero rebounds to go along with his 10 points. He also connected on just three of his 10 shots from the floor.
Overall, it was a very un-LeBron James-like performance, but it was also just his fifth game of the season after a long layoff, so he probably deserves a bit of a grace period. If similar performances continue throughout the season, then it would become a major cause for concern.
James is about to be 41 years old, and he’s going to slow down eventually, even though he’s been able to fight off Father Time better than almost any other athlete ever. Given his advanced age and all the miles he’s accumulated on his body over the course of 22 seasons in the league, it’s not surprising that we’d see some signs of decline this season.
But, one subpar game against the Suns in early December doesn’t mean that ‘The King’ is washed. If poor performances start to mount however, then it might be time to question just how much gas James has left in his once seemingly endless tank.