In the aftermath of the Lakers’ inspiring 130-125 win over the Clippers on Wednesday, NBA insider Brian Windhorst shared one of his biggest concerns to start the season. In a segment on NBA Today, Windy detailed the situation with LeBron James and how leaning on him too much to start the season could have dire consequences.
“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.”
"This can't be something that happens over and over."
–@windhorstespn on LeBron's extended minutes to save the game. pic.twitter.com/PP8CRq2vcI
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 2, 2023
After getting just 29 minutes in the opening game, Darvin Ham spoke about a minutes restriction for LeBron James for the sake of preserving his health and body through the long season. Of course, that strategy was abandoned by the second game, when James jumped to 35 minutes in a win against the Suns. For Wednesday’s game over the Clippers, James racked up his most minutes yet this season with a total of 42 over four quarters and overtime. While James has been prospering so far this season, he’s playing a risky game this early on in his 21st season.
Can LeBron James Stay Healthy?
Last season, James played just 55 games for the Lakers and was compromised for much of the action due to various injuries. Over the past three seasons combined, LeBron has played in a total of 156 games — which is the worst stretch of his career when it comes to availability. At 38 years old, it has become clear that LeBron James isn’t the indestructible “iron man” that he was in Cleveland and Miami, but the Lakers may need him to be if they want to stay alive in the Western Conference.
Through the first five games of this campaign, no. 23 is putting up an impressive stat line of 24.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game on 56% shooting. His best game yet came on Wednesday, when he dropped 35 points on the Clippers. Needless to say, the signs are looking good for LeBron this season, but questions about his durability and long-term availability have put the Lakers in a really difficult situation.
The Lakers Have A Problem
The big selling point for the Lakers this summer was the additions to the supporting cast. Instead of going for a star like Kyrie Irving or Damian Lillard, they chose to beef up their bench unit with signings like Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, and Christian Wood. So far, none of those signings have panned out and the Lakers are actually struggling to pull away in games. Currently, the Lakers rank 16th in offensive rating and they’ve been entirely dependent on LeBron and Davis to carry them every step of the way.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, running your two best players into the ground is probably not the best way to maximize championship odds and they could suffer for it greatly in the second half of the season. For now, though, the Lakers are doing everything they can to avoid digging an early hole and that means taking off all restrictions for LeBron.
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