The status of Lakers star LeBron James is officially in jeopardy for the team’s next two games this week. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, James, and the Lakers are still weighing their options ahead of the back-to-back set which begins on Wednesday.
“I’m told that LeBron James will be reevaluated later today and there is optimism that he can be able to play in at least one of the next two games: in Charlotte at home on Wednesday or Thursday in Portland,” said Shams. “But what the Lakers are weighing here is the importance of the Luka Doncic and LeBron James chemistry and what that will signify for the second half of the NBA season. But also the other side of it is sitting LeBron James against these two lesser opponents in Charlotte and Portland and as opposed to him playing, they could be looking at nine days of total rest between last Wednesday’s game in Utah and Saturday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.”
NBA All-Star weekend just ended and LeBron James was M.I.A. After being voted as an All-Star starter, James announced he wasn’t even going to show up to the venue until late on Saturday night. Of course, we found out on Sunday that he wouldn’t be playing at all.
James (4x champion) did end up making a brief appearance for pictures with his team but he couldn’t even be bothered to put his jersey on. It was the first time in decades that LeBron didn’t suit up for All-Star weekend and he was heavily criticized by several prominent voices.
At 40 years old and in year 22, the Lakers have to be careful and delicate with LeBron James’ workload. While LeBron is still one of the NBA’s elite stars, putting too much pressure or strain on his body could have terrible implications at this stage of his career.
This season, LeBron has already played in 48 of the Lakers’ 52 games so far and he’s been leading them every step of the way. With averages of 24.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game, his play has been crucial to his team’s success.
Surprisingly, LeBron has been soft on load management this season but it seems that approach is changing now. With Luka Doncic in place for Anthony Davis, the timeline has shifted and if LeBron wants to keep up he will have to do more to prolong his career.
By resting in the All-Star game and sitting out in the back-to-back against the Hornets on Wednesday and the Trail Blazers on Thursday, LeBron will guarantee himself a whole nine days of rest. If he then returns on Saturday, February 22nd, LeBron will be fresh to battle against the Denver Nuggets.
The Lakers must decide if sitting LeBron for two games is worth potentially losing their momentum this season. At 8-2 in their last 10 games, the Purple and Gold were looking good before the All-Star break, and not having LeBron out there risks losing very winnable games.
Fortunately, the Lakers also have Luka Doncic to lead the way, and if he’s able to find his groove with the Lakers, it may be enough for them to hold it down and capture some wins without LeBron.
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