NEW ORLEANS — The first year of the LeBron James experience is over in Los Angeles. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers opted to shut down James rather than have him play out the string of a season that has fallen unimaginably short of expectations.



Not only will the Lakers miss the playoffs, but they also will finish well below .500 for a sixth straight season, a streak that was supposed to be emphatically reversed when James decided to leave Cleveland and sign with the Lakers last July.



In the 55 games he played for the Lakers in Year 1 of a contract that will pay him $153 million over four years, James averaged 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists — all better than the numbers he put up in 2012-13, his last MVP season. However, the 2018-19 season will be remembered as an overwhelming failure and as the one in which James finally succumbed to a major injury: the groin strain that kept him out for 17 consecutive games in...