Getty LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on March 04, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
The Los Angeles Lakers are set to put LeBron James on a minutes restriction for the rest of the regular season.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that the Lakers will put LeBron James on a minutes restriction until the end of the season and likely won’t let him play back-to-backs:
BREAKING: @ChrisBHaynes reports Lakers will put LeBron on a minutes restriction and likely won’t let him play back-to-backs.
“I was told now that the Lakers are out of playoff contention, that there was a conversation between LeBron James’ trainer and the front office and they came to the conclusion that, moving forward, LeBron James will play somewhere of a minutes restrictions of 28 to 32 minutes and, possibly, on back-to-backs. Depending on how LeBron James feels, he might sit out on of those back-to-backs.
“I was also told that the front office spoke with his agent, Rich Paul, explaining the scenario with him. Everybody understood, everybody’s in agreement.”
The Lakers are just 30-35, 11th in the Western Conference, 6.5 games behind the Spurs and Clippers and their upcoming schedule is tough, including a visit from Kyrie Irving and the Celtics on Saturday.
James moved into fourth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, past Michael Jordan’s 32,292 career points and he’s averaging 27.5 points, 10.3 assists and 8.9 rebounds in 38.5 minutes over the last 10 games but the Lakers are just 2-8 in that span.
What Went Wrong for the Lakers?
The Lakers expected James to come in and take the team under his wing but it seems that he was looking for superstars to join him and by the trade deadline it was clear that they were willing to trade all their young players for Anthony Davis.
Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus shared an explanation from an NBA exec:
He killed the [Lakers’] chemistry. He shouldn’t have been so public about it. Even during the All-Star draft, he laughed about [wanting Davis to be his teammate].
It became clear that the Lakers and James wanted a second superstar more than they wanted to continue developing their young core. Lonzo Ball’s camp knew the team attempted to part ways with the point guard this season and his camp even leaked information about him wanted to play for certain teams, including the Suns.
The Los Angeles Lakers were not expected to win the NBA Championship this season but no one saw this debacle coming. Poor coaching from Luke Walton, injuries throughout the year, lack of effort on defense, awful free-throw shooting and questionable decisions from management, like the Ivica Zubac trade have all led them to this point.
Now with the Lakers and James agreeing on a minutes restriction for the rest of the season, will they tank? I don’t think so, they don’t really have a shot at Zion Williamson and 28 to 32 minutes per game for James is a good amount of playing time.
The decision to play him fewer minutes per game going forward does mean that the Lakers have accepted that the playoffs are out of reach, so they won’t be as desperate to get wins. After all, they could land a top 10 pick in the draft, which could be a valuable asset on the trade market this summer.
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