The Los Angeles Lakers had planned on reducing some of the load on LeBron James and Anthony Davis this season, but they have failed in that quest so far. Davis almost finds himself at the top of the league for minutes per game while James ranks in the top 20.
1. Shaedon Sharpe – 39.0 MPG
2. Anthony Davis – 38.8 MPG
3. Tyrese Maxey – 38.3 MPG
4. Tyler Herro – 38.2 MPG
5. Luka Doncic – 37.5 MPG
6. Fred VanVleet – 37.1 MPG
7. Tobias Harris – 37.0 MPG
8. Scottie Barnes – 36.5 MPG
9. D’Angelo Russell – 36.2 MPG
10. Devin Booker – 36.1 MPG
11. Terry Rozier – 35.9 MPG
12. Jerami Grant – 35.8 MPG
13. Max Strus – 35.8 MPG
14. Kevin Durant – 35.8 MPG
15. Donovan Mitchell – 35.7 MPG
16. LeBron James – 35.6 MPG
D’Angelo Russell also finds himself in the top 10, and it’s not ideal to have so many players playing big minutes.
The Lakers desperately wanted to avoid this situation with LeBron, in particular, as head coach Darvin Ham stated that they only wanted the 38-year-old to play close to 30 minutes a game. That was the case on opening night against the Denver Nuggets, but since then, that restriction has been lifted.
In their last outing against the Orlando Magic on Saturday night, James played just over 35 minutes as the Lakers tried to get back in the game. As for Davis, he played just over 32 minutes but has had a heavy workload prior to that. Considering his injury history, you wouldn’t be shocked if he goes down at some point if this keeps up.
Fortunately for the two of them and the Lakers, their minutes should come down once Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt return from injury. Hachimura has missed the last three games, while Vanderbilt is yet to play this season. If we are looking at a similar situation a couple of months down the road, then the alarm bells will really start to ring in my head.
Brian Windhorst Had A Warning For The Lakers
We have seen some magnificent performances from LeBron this season, like the one against the Los Angeles Clippers, where he had 35 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. While many marveled at it, Brian Windhorst sent an ominous warning to the Lakers.
“The reason you’re seeing him do this is because this is healthy and fresh LeBron. He’s able to have that explosion, he’s able to push off that foot again. This is what you wanna see LeBron have in the tank at the end of the year and that’s why the Lakers were hoping to avoid this… they really love their depth but their depth hasn’t played out over the last 7-10 days. They’ve needed to rely on AD and LeBron, their minutes have gone up. This can’t be something that happens over and over.”
It really can’t be something that continues on. While it’s understandable that a team would lean on their best players, it shouldn’t be to this extent. One of the biggest strengths for the Lakers coming into the season was their depth, and when everyone gets healthy, you will hope to see the two superstars get more of a breather so they don’t burn out as the season goes on.
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