LeBron James is in the midst of a remarkable season. He’s averaging 29.7 points per game, which is second in the NBA while shooting 52.3 percent from the field to go along with 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.
His free-throw shooting, which had been a weakness the past few years, has also improved to a 76.6 percent accuracy. In each of his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, he had been south of 70 percent from the charity stripe.
However, it has come at a hefty cost, as he is playing 36.9 minutes per game this season, which is fourth in the league.
Last night, as his team got embarrassed by the Toronto Raptors at home, James played 40 minutes, even though L.A. never made things competitive for the most part.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel admitted he is always conscious of how many minutes he puts James on the court for.
Frank Vogel says LeBron’s minutes are “always a concern” but because of the flow of the game and there being a ton of stoppages, he didn’t feel LeBron was being too taxed.
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) March 15, 2022
The game against the Raptors was the second of a back-to-back set, making the usual concern about James’ playing time a little bigger.
