As the Los Angeles Lakers fell out of playoff contention this season, LeBron James has shouldered some of the blame for not being himself since his injury. He's now starting to receive criticism from plenty of sources as no longer being the best in the NBA. That may be fair, and based on recent game ratings, it seems like plenty of individuals might agree. King James may not be basketball's best, at least as of right now. Some feel it could be a signal LeBron's disappointing season is the start of his downward trajectory as his career moves towards retirement in the coming years.

LeBron no longer reigns supreme

Sports video games have become a big business and often feature realistic skills ratings for each player. That's the case in both the NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19 basketball games. In both of these games, LeBron James has often been ranked above all his fellow competitors. In fact, he was holding that distinction when the 2018-19 NBA season launched for the game.

However, since then, 2K19 ratings adjustments have come into play. In the most recently-released version of 2K19's player ratings, LeBron James fell a point. While that might not sound like a big deal, it means he is now tied with two other NBA stars in the game. They are Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and James Harden from the Houston Rockets.

LeBron James and Giannis were each selected as cover athletes for different editions of this year's game. However, it appears that "Greek Freak" has caught up to King James in terms of his overall skills in the league. Same goes for Harden, as both he and Giannis are frontrunners for this year's MVP Award. They each hold 96 overall ratings in the game, which in some gamers' opinions might even need more adjustment.

They believe the two All-Stars should be a point ahead of LeBron.

LeBron loses his spot in disappointing season

The injury situation certainly hampered LeBron James as it cost him a number of weeks for this latest season. Before he went down with the groin injury, LeBron and the Lakers were right in the thick of the playoff picture.

LA was up amongst the top four teams in the Western Conference. It had fans in Los Angeles excited and the talk was all about how LeBron was saving the franchise.

However, losing LeBron James along with Rajon Rondo and then Lonzo Ball hurt the team. It's also believed by some that even though LeBron returned he wasn't ever 100 percent himself in terms of his capabilities, due to the injury never fully recovering. He made his return but the team just didn't seem to be the same. Some NBA trade rumors drama also may have hurt some of the players' egos and affected their playing mindset for the team.

LeBron mentioned in his recent Spectrum SportsNet video that he'll be focusing on getting himself more than 100 percent ready for next season. That's a scary notion, as a determined LeBron seems to be capable of great things, when healthy. If James can indeed regain his health to translate to on-court skills, he might find himself taking over that top spot in the game again.
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