LeBron James only played 29 minutes as the Lakers lost their season opener to the Nuggets. The team is going to manage LeBron’s minutes aggressively all season, but a leaked video from the Nuggets game shows LeBron trying to convince his coaches to let him continue playing as a point guard.
“Y’all know I can play point guard as well, right? We got a lot left, I can play the point with Rui in there, or Austin, and T.P. at the two and three. I’m just out there floating around.”
#freeLebron 😭 pic.twitter.com/Q9eS3nOA15
— Vinsmoke (@cmonChuckk) October 25, 2023
LeBron ended the game against the Nuggets with 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists with great efficiency. It’s clear the Lakers may need LeBron to play more than 30 minutes to lead the team to a successful regular season, but it seems clear the team doesn’t want to lose LeBron to injury in the latter half of the season, as we saw last year.
With the new player participation policy likely hurting the ability of players to take games off to recuperate, the Lakers will be hoping that LeBron’s reduced workload means he is fresher whenever he does play and can contribute at a game-winning level.
Darvin Ham Confirmed LeBron James’ Minutes Will Stay Low This Season
Darvin Ham was asked about LeBron’s minutes after the loss and he confirmed that the Lakers plan on keeping his minutes low.
“We’ll see. In all likelihood, yes.”
Darvin Ham on if LeBron James’ 29 minutes will be a trend this season: “We’ll see. In all likelihood, yes.”
Ham added that it could build from that number depending on how James feels and what the team’s training staff decides.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 25, 2023
The Lakers were over-reliant on LeBron for the first four months of the season, which ultimately led James to get hurt. He was having games with 40+ minutes played, given how bad the Lakers were. They needed his minutes every single time and were barely keeping themselves in the playoff fight.
This season, the team is better constructed. They could make the playoffs without James having that sort of a workload, and it’s what they’re aiming to do. Plans are always transient, so we’ll have to see if the Lakers stick to their guns regarding this.
LeBron James Didn’t Seem Happy About His Minutes
LeBron James wasn’t thrilled about his minutes being as heavily managed as they were against the Nuggets.
“I mean, I always want to be on the floor, especially when you have an opportunity to win a game and you feel you can make an impact. But I guess there’s a system in place and I’ll follow it.”
As a professional, he wasn’t going to put the coaching staff on blast after the first game of the year. He was clearly upset at the decision but it’s also obvious that this is being done for his own health and wellness. It also allows James to have a bigger impact in the minutes he does play, making the Lakers offense operate at a level of metronomic stability.
They were +7 with LeBron on the floor last night and -19 without him. One of the main reasons the Lakers couldn’t chase the Nuggets down successfully was that every time they made a comeback, James’ minute stint would be up and he’d be taken out before finishing the job.
Let’s see how his minutes evolve over the season. Maybe the Lakers will be left without a choice by December and have to resume playing him 33-35 minutes per game.
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