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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was not at the team’s practice on Wednesday. Coach JJ Redick told reporters afterward that James was out for “personal reasons” and that it was an “excused absence.” James’ status for the team’s next game on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves remains unclear.
James, who will turn 40 at the end of the month, sat out of the Lakers’ most recent contest — a win over the Portland Trail Blazers that snapped a three-game losing streak — due to a sore left foot. That was the first game that he had missed all season.
Back in October, James expressed a desire to play in all 82 games. He can no longer accomplish that feat, which Redick recently acknowledged wasn’t such a great idea to begin with. “I don’t know that’s in the best interest of him and us,” Redick said earlier this month. He offered some further thoughts on James’ workload when speaking to the media on Wednesday.
“In game, he’s asked for a sub a couple times because he’s gassed,” Redick said. “For us, we have to be cognizant as we play more and more games, just the cumulative effect of playing a lot of minutes and Sunday, being banged up with the foot thing, it felt like a good opportunity for him to get some rest.”
Because the Lakers did not advance to the knockout stage of the NBA Cup, they had a break in the schedule that included four nights off between Sunday’s game against the Trail Blazers and Friday’s meeting with the Timberwolves. For James, who didn’t play against the Blazers, that would represent a full week between games. And that time on the sideline could be extended if he sits out again on Friday.
Regardless of when James returns to the court, it’s clear the Lakers are thinking of the long haul. Only four players — John Stockton, Robert Parish, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Vince Carter — have ever played more than 75 games at age 40 or older, and none of them had the responsibility that James does.
How do they get him through the season while maintaining his effectiveness?
James is playing 35 minutes per game this season, which is right in line with where he’s been at the last two seasons, and putting up 23 points, eight rebounds and 9.1 assists. While his counting stats are impressive and he’s still capable of dialing it up on certain nights, he has not been his usual self on a game-to-game basis.
His 4.6 free throw attempts per game are a career-low and the first time he’s been below five in that category, his 17.2% turnover rate is also a career-worst, and the percentage of field goals that he’s taking at the rim (28.6%) is his second-lowest ever. Starting in late November, he missed 20 consecutive 3-pointers over a five-game stretch, and during a blowout loss to the Timberwolves earlier this month he had just 10 points on 4 of 16 from the field. That was the first time since his initial stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers that he had 10 or fewer points on 25% or worse shooting from the field.
Perhaps most notably, for the first time since he joined the Lakers in 2018, they’ve been better with him off the floor (minus-8.4 net rating with James on, plus-4.1 net rating when he sits).
James remains one of the smartest and most talented players in the league, but it seems clear at this point that some sort of load management plan would be in the best interest of both himself and the team. Whether that means taking more games off or playing fewer minutes is up for discussion.
The biggest obstacle may be getting James to agree to such a strategy.
“I know you got me on f—ing old man time percentages and shit,” James was seen telling Lakers assistant coaches early last season when they tried to institute a minutes restriction. “Play eight minutes and shit. Two shots in eight minutes, just getting cardio. I hate this shit already, this shit’s garbage.”
It’s hard to imagine his mindset has changed. It may have to, though, if he wants to have enough left in the tank to help the Lakers try to make some noise in the playoffs this spring.
