At 40 years old, LeBron James has more mileage on his body than most players could even imagine. So when he saw the slate of games from March 13 to March 20 (six games in eight nights), he couldn’t help but complain about it online to his millions of Instagram followers.
“This is INSANE!!!!!!” wrote James on the Lakers schedule.
The Lakers just came back from the All-Star break and they have a game tonight after a back-to-back set against the Hornets and Trail Blazers this week. While LeBron has taken some days off throughout the season, he’s been consistently available. Unfortunately, LeBron will likely miss at least one or two games from that brutal stretch in March.
The first game is Thursday, March 13, against the Milwaukee Bucks. It will take a massive effort to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on the road but it’s only just the start.
The very next night, the Lakers are scheduled to do battle against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. The Nuggets are a notoriously tough matchup for the Lakers and to win in Denver with Jokic and Murray being as hot as they are is going to be a difficult assignment.
After one short night off, the Lakers will have to play another back-to-back set at the Crypto.com arena. It’ll start with Kevin Durant and the Suns on March 16 before a showdown against the young and feisty San Antonio Spurs one night later.
Finally, the Lakers will have another back-to-back set (their third straight) on March 19 against the Nuggets and March 20 against the Spurs. Both teams are expected to give the Lakers a tough fight and it remains to be seen what kind of condition the players will be after so many games in such a short period of time.
With averages of 24.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 8.9 assists per game this season, LeBron certainly isn’t playing like someone who is at the end of his career. But he’ll no doubt be feeling the pain next month when the NBA schedule gets downright nasty for the Purple and Gold.
The best thing for James to do is to pick his spots and save enough strength for April and May. At 5th in the West (33-21), Los Angeles is in play for a guaranteed playoff spot and if they are healthy enough, the Lakers will have a solid chance to advance past the first round.
The good news is, if LeBron does go down or get cold down the stretch, Luka Doncic should be capable of picking up the slack. Every Lakers game is a new opportunity for Luka to get his rhythm back and fans don’t expect a long wait before he’s back to his MVP form.
For now, it’s LeBron James who is holding it down and what he’s doing at 40 years old is truly unprecedented. This season, the Lakers must keep him healthy and fresh this season to have any chance in the spring and that means he may have to sit out one or two games during the most brutal parts of the schedule.
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