While the Western Conference looks set to be a playoff positioning dog, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Davin Hamm must find a way to manage the workload of his stars while winning games. This is especially true for LeBron James, who is entering his 21st season and will turn 39 at the end of December.
Opening night showed that Ham and his staff have a plan in place to manage James throughout the regular season, as he played just 29 minutes in Los Angeles’ loss to the Denver Nuggets. The four-time champion averaged 38 minutes during his illustrious career, so this is certainly a change and will really test the team’s depth without him on the floor.
Making sure James is 100 percent and ready for the playoffs would certainly be ideal throughout a difficult season, but ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that Ham was playing 28-30 minutes The ball-playing range is just a guideline, not a hard upper limit:
“Everyone is speculating, ‘Are we going to finally see LeBron James look his age?'” Playing in the 28-30 minute range per game and talking to people around the team, the feeling is , which is a guideline, not a hard cap. So if LeBron James plays 30 minutes or so and it’s a close game with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, he’s going to stay on the court. But at the same time, the rest of the Lakers, the role players, are figuring out how to step up while he’s on the bench. “
That proved to be the difference in the game on Tuesday, as the Lakers struggled when James wasn’t on the court. He hit plus-seven points in a game the Lakers lost by double digits. Although this is just one game, if this team wants to compete for a championship, the role players must provide more consistent performance.
D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Anthony Davis and Gabe Vincent all shared their on-court struggles. Over time, Ham will have to figure out non-LeBron lineups that can hold their own on both sides of the ball.
James’ minutes will be worth watching to see how often Ham decides to loosen his reins. While fans have become accustomed to his high minutes, the team should have enough time to be productive while he’s on the bench.
James wasn’t surprised or upset by Ham’s plan to play 29 minutes in the season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.nuggets
Hamm mentioned how James’ workload will be monitored on a daily basis, which fans saw on Tuesday. However, James isn’t surprised or upset by this plan from his head coach, even if the competitor in him wants to play more.