As the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled to string together wins and build momentum this season, LeBron James has been carrying a huge load.
He’s averaging 36.4 minutes per game this season, and lately, that figure has been ever higher. He averaged 37.8 minutes a contest in the month of January.
That’s a mind-boggling number for someone who is 38 years of age and has played nearly 65,000 minutes in the regular season and playoff combined.
James has missed the Lakers’ last two games with left foot soreness, and he will sit out again on Monday when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers. Although imaging on his left foot has reportedly come back clean, he is dealing with a considerable amount of pain.
According to Dave McMenamin, some around the organization don’t like the idea that James has been playing so many minutes.
Via Lakers Daily:
“Some of the people I speak to around the team, let’s put it that way, were like, ‘What are we doing here, playing him 40 minutes again?’” McMenamin relayed. “‘We’re going to run him into the ground?’ And it’s not the minutes necessarily. It’s the minutes while a player is dealing with something that’s been pervasive.”
James has repeatedly shot down the idea of sitting out games preventively for load management over the last few years. But the team hasn’t done a good job of reducing his workload on the court.
However, now it has acquired point guard D’Angelo Russell, who is an upgrade over Russell Westbrook, not to mention a much better fit, as well as power forward Jarred Vanderbilt. Perhaps that will give head coach Darvin Ham the ability to keep James to about 32-34 minutes a game moving forward without sacrificing wins or productivity.
