- LeBron James will be entering his 21st season in the NBA in 2023-24
- The Lakers want to decrease the load on LeBron
- The team believes they now have the depth to do so
It appears we can expect fewer minutes and a bit of a lesser role for LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season. More so than ever before, the Lakers are planning to manage LeBron as he enters his 21st season in the NBA, as per the Athletic’s Jovan Buha.
“The Lakers are planning to manage James’ minutes and offensive workload more than in years past, and Pelinka cited the team’s depth as a way to do that,” Buha wrote. “Ham said the franchise is aiming to be more efficient with James’ ‘game-to-game minutes, the big picture, month-to-month, different sections in the calendar.'”
That seems like a sensible thing to do. LeBron averaged 35.5 minutes per game last season and put up 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. You’d ideally want his minutes to be closer to 30 than 35 at this stage of his career.
We have heard things along these lines for the 38-year-old for a few years now, however, but once the season starts, it gets thrown out of the window. It was said last year too, but obviously, LeBron still had to play big minutes.
This current roster, though, might just actually allow the Lakers to reduce the load on him, as they have a lot of depth. Another thing that works in their favor here is that James is one of the exceptions from the new resting rules, so they don’t have to take that into consideration either.
It Is Time For Anthony Davis To Take Over
The basketball world has been waiting for Anthony Davis to take over as the best player on the Lakers from LeBron, and we did see glimpses of that last season. Davis had some incredible scoring outbursts, but once the playoffs came around, he was very inconsistent on offense.
The 30-year-old was arguably the best defender of the 2023 playoffs but averaged just 22.6 points per game, which isn’t enough. Charles Barkley says LeBron has to tell Davis to be the best player on the Lakers, as he is the one in the prime of his career. If he is unable to do that, you do think L.A. might end up falling just short in the end.
The Lakers Plan On Running More Of Their Offense Through Austin Reaves
LeBron was the primary ball-handler for much of the 2022-23 season, but Austin Reaves did take some of that load off him at certain points later on in the campaign. He had the ball in his hands in some critical moments in the playoffs and now, the Lakers are planning on running more of their offense through Reaves.
“The Lakers plan on running more of their offense through Reaves next season,” Buha wrote. “Unlocking the point guard skills he’s flashed through his first two years in the league, according to team sources not authorized to speak publicly,”
As a full-time starter in the playoffs, Reaves averaged 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game. He showed that he has the quality and the temperament to run the offense, and the longer he can do it at a high level, the lesser the load is on James.
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