Thought Starter
The start of a change?
The Lakers have some serious problems right now. LeBron James, rather uncharacteristically, is one of them.
His play over the last 10 days or so has not been good. Not in a “by LeBron James standards” kind of way, either. The shot has been off, the turnovers are up, the defense has been... lacking. But to this point, at least, LeBron’s health hasn’t been an issue. His age? His energy? Yes to both. But LeBron hasn’t been on the injury report.
That changes tonight as the Lakers take on the Hawks in Atlanta. James is on the injury report, downgraded to questionable with foot/ankle issues. This isn’t a new problem, and ironically it comes after LeBron had one of his better offensive games in a while against Miami on Wednesday. But it’s also in the wake of both James and JJ Redick publicly seeming to reconsider LeBron’s stated goal of playing in all 82 regular season games.
Could this be the beginning of a shift in how the Lakers approach LeBron’s usage?
Were James to miss tonight’s game, and follow that up with some additional rest on Sunday at home against Portland, he’d be able to get a level of rest over the next two weeks almost unheard of in the NBA. After they see the Blazers, the Lakers don’t play again until December 13 against Minnesota. Following that with a game on the 15th vs. Memphis, the Lakers are then off until visiting Sacramento on the 19th. So if some version of getting rest for James ahead of the break, whether both games or just one, isn’t the plan, should it be?
The Lakers have to figure out what LeBron’s capabilities are, and how they can be maximized. Because while they ought to be built with enough depth to support him through the long regular season so that he can be LeBron down the stretch, they aren’t. The LeBron of the last couple of weeks isn’t going to be nearly good enough for the Lakers to make any noise, even if Austin Reaves (out again tonight) comes back soon. Especially while Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood are out. (And two of the three likely out a while.)
Are there combinations the Lakers could deploy to fix this? Would removing LeBron for a couple days break the cycle the Lakers seem to be in right now where James has a much larger usage within the offense than he did earlier in the year?
These next two weeks, whether you’re talking about the games they have to play or the rest they need to find or the adjustments they need to make, will potentially define the remainder of the season.
