Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James played only 29 minutes in the team’s season-opener against the Denver Nuggets, leading to a conversation regarding a minutes restriction from head coach Darvin Ham. It has since been reported that the Lakers are not hard-capping James at 28-30 minutes, but rather using that as a guideline that can be adjusted as needed.
It was needed against the Phoenix Suns in the second game of the season. Facing an 84-72 deficit entering the fourth and final quarter, James played all 12 minutes — giving him 35 total on the night — and helped lead the Lakers to a 100-95 victory, the team’s first win of the young season. It immediately put to bed the idea of a minutes restriction, but was still a conversation after the game.
Ham spoke about the decision to play James for the entire fourth quarter, taking him past 30 minutes, and what gave him the confidence that it would work out for the Lakers after a slow start.
“I mean, I think we wish we were dragging our feet there for the better part of the first half, and things weren’t clicking, weren’t making shots, especially from three,” Ham said. “He has that spirit, that intensity to put the team on his shoulders, and I had timeouts to play with. And so I went to him, I said, How are we feeling? What do we want to do? And he answered my question, and you guys saw the results.
“So we use a couple of our time outs because breathers, but you know, all having said all of that, when you got the competitive juices flowing, you got to the all-time greats on the floor, battling going back and forth like that. It’s just it’s hard to sit out on something like that, that type of scenario, but obviously, the recovery process starts now. You got sort of get-what-you-need day tomorrow and come back in and get on the floor again on Saturday. Get ready to go up the Sac, but I just my hat’s off to him. He never ceases to amaze us. And he cares. He cares. That’s why you see his type of stat line. He’s laying it all out for his team, even in Year 21. And I just hope a lot of these young pros out here are looking and seeing what he’s doing. From off-the-court pregame preparation, and game impact, post-game recovery, and his own private sessions of making sure his body is functioning, and not just functioning but functioning at a high level.”
Sometimes, coaches have to lean on their stars and trust that they know their own limits. Especially a player like James, who has been perhaps the most careful around his health of any NBA player. James talked about the decision from his perspective.
“He asked me if I could go the quarter. I looked at the time and the score and what was going on in the game, and it was an easy answer for myself,” James said. “I know how much work I’ve put in to be able to play quarters or whatever the case may be and understand that we’re we definitely have a system put in place. But tonight calls for me to go outside of the box today. And Coach Ham was cool. … He was able to use those wisely to get myself rest, get the team rest and I felt very fresh going down the stretch. … Coach trusted me and I had to go out there and prove it.”
James’ minutes appear as though they are going to be a conversation all season long, but Ham seems prepared to handle the line of questioning while ensuring that James stays as healthy as possible.
Ham thinks minutes will become smaller issue as team meshes
Ham doesn’t believe that James will be needed to “save” the Lakers that often, as he trusts that the depth of the team will show itself once they’ve had time to gel.
“No, I wouldn’t go that far. Once we get more comfortable with one another. And I mean, we don’t give up offensive rebounds. If guys make a few more threes than probably, it’s likely he’s not I’m playing 35 minutes tonight. I mean, it’s a fact of the game. You got to hold teams one possession as much as you can. And you definitely got to make shots. It’s a make-or-miss league. And so, with that said, he did what he needed to do for the team tonight. And we’ve been managing him, he’s been managing himself. That’s why you see that spring and that pop in his step. We’ve been really efficient about our offseason work when he had his minicamp, training camp, our preseason games. And there’s a degree of where we need to be conditioning-wise. And that’s the early part of the year, you’re gonna go through that type of stuff once you get your game legs under you. But he, I think he’s in a great place. And once our other guys get caught up to speed, and that continuity continues to build, he’ll be alright. He’ll be right back in his sweet spot, minutes-wise.”
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