The Lakers’ most recent victory required LeBron James to play a full 40 minutes.
“If LeBron plays like this, we want him to play 48 minutes,” guard Austin Reeves said.
In fact, the Lakers don’t.
James will celebrate his 39th birthday next month, which makes his early-season efforts that defy logic both hopeful and disturbing.
The Lakers are as dependent on James as ever.
This season should be different, as the Lakers look to improve their depth to reduce their reliance on James and allow them to better manage their workload.
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But in fact, it’s not.
What does this mean for his ability to stay healthy? How much does he have left in the tank for the playoffs?
The Lakers are not in a position to ask these questions right now.
James scored 37 points to help his team beat the Houston Rockets 105-104 on Sunday night. He previously scored 35 points in Friday’s road win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
He shot 50 percent or better in every game he played in but one. He averaged 26.4 points per game.
“We’ve all known and loved LeBron for 21 years,” Lakers coach Davon Hamm said.
The Lakers have won five of their past six games, but they still don’t look quite right. James is playing so well, why are they only 8 wins and 6 losses?
They return the core of a team that reached the Western Conference Finals, but are back to where they were last season before general manager Rob Pelinka reconfigured the roster before the trade deadline.
“We made great progress last year and the key players are back,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “We’re still building our chemistry. We’re still trying to figure it out. I think we’re getting better. I can feel it.”
Currently, the Lakers are back to being a two-man team, with James and Anthony Davis being the only players they can count on.
Point guard D’Angelo Russell is either very good or very bad and rarely in between. The same is true for Hachimura, who missed four games earlier this season due to the league’s concussion protocol. Reeves now plays on the team’s second unit.
The Lakers’ three-point shooting percentage is only 33.8%, ranking 26th in the league. In the win over the Rockets, they made just 6 of 29 three-pointers (20.7%).
James masks the team’s flaws.
Considering he’s missed time due to injury every season he’s played with the Lakers, that’s not a sustainable approach. In fact, James suffered a calf injury that forced him to miss a game last week and admitted he didn’t feel good during the win over the Rockets.
“Just trying to push the envelope and see how far I can take this thing,” James said. “I’m fighting Father Time, so I’m trying to change the narrative. I started it last year to see if I can stick with it.”
James scored two points against the Rockets in the first quarter, and the Lakers fell behind 28-20 after that. He went 13-for-15 the rest of the way.
read more: LeBron James scores 35 points, Lakers beat Trail Blazers to stay undefeated in tournament
James said that at some point, he noticed his son, Bronny, sitting on the sidelines. Earlier in the day, Bronny participated in pregame warmups with the USC basketball team for the first time this season. Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest during a Trojans practice this summer and has yet to make his college debut.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to have to turn it up a little louder when he’s in the building,'” James said.
Bronny’s presence is a reminder that James is the father of a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Southern California.
“I remind him every day that he’s old — in basketball,” Reeves said with a laugh. “I just told him again.”
Reeves turned serious and continued: “Maybe, with the exception of Tom Brady, he’s fought Father Time more than anyone who’s ever played this game. “He’s playing at a very, very high level. “
In doing so, James bought the Lakers time to find themselves. But they can’t always read him that way. If this continues, their weight will wreak havoc on their 38-year-old bodies at some point, which could derail their seasons.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.