The Los Angeles Lakers are still hoping to reduce LeBron James’ playing time slightly, as the four-time MVP is playing nearly 35 minutes a night, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
McMenamin reported Tuesday that “all parties involved want to limit James’ playing time when the team is fully healthy.”
On October 24, Los Angeles lost to the Denver Nuggets 119-107. James played 29 minutes in this game. Head coach Davin Hamm said that was intentional because the Lakers “have to pay attention to his minute output and his stretch time.”
By the second game, those plans were on hold. LeBron played 35 minutes in a 100-95 win over the Phoenix Suns on October 26, and has only played less than 30 minutes twice since the first game. Both events were also blowouts.
For Ham, this feels like a fairly easy choice. He could reduce James’ time on the court, or risk watching the Lakers lose games the longer he sits on the bench.
According to NBA.com, Los Angeles has a net rating of plus-7.1 when James is on the court and a net rating of minus-16.7 when James is off the court. That’s a staggering on/off difference, and explains why imposing any kind of playing time limit on the 19-time All-Star is easier said than done.
Maybe it would be more comfortable to rest James when the team is at full strength, but that’s no coincidence, historically James’ usage rate starts to climb around January and stays at that level. That’s when he and his team were looking ahead to the postseason, whether it was competing for a playoff seed or making sure they peaked at the right time.
Especially if the Lakers continue to hover around sixth place in the Western Conference, the deadline for the playoffs, Ham may have no choice but to maintain James’ current workload.