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Los Angeles Lakers‘ first-time head coach JJ Redick hinted at potentially resting his soon-to-be-40-year-old star LeBron James in some of their games moving forward.
James, who will turn 40 on December 30, is on the worst stretch of his 22-year career after scoring only 10 points on a rough 4-of-16 shooting in the Lakers’ 109-80 deflating loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 2.
“We are measuring the players and we can tell if a guy’s running hot or whatever,” Redick told reporters, per Spectrum Sportsnet, when asked if James’ plan to play all 82 games in the regular season is sustainable. “He does a remarkable job of taking care of his body and getting recovery.
James is known to invest $1.5 million per year in taking care of his health. But with James nearing the end of his legendary career, Redick also acknowledged the elephant in the room.
“I don’t know that’s in the best interest of him and us if he does that, but if he’s feeling well and feeling good, then he should play,” Redick added. “But we obviously want to manage that as best we can.”
LeBron James Is Non-Committal on Load Management
When asked about Redicks’ hint at a potential rest plan, James was non-committal.
“That’s a goal,” James said, per Spectrum Sportsnet. “But we’ll see. It’s something that we’ve been discussing right now.”
James has shown signs of aging lately. He’s shot under 40% in two of his last three games and missed his last 19 attempts from the 3-point line over a six-game span. He also had a game-high six turnovers against the Timberwolves.
The 39-year-old James is averaging four turnovers per game this season, the fifth-most in the entire NBA.
Redick, however, attributed James’ struggles on the second night of a back-to-back to the Timberwolves’ towering frontline, and not to fatigue.
“They’re a big team,” Redick said of the Timberwolves, referring to their frontcourt of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels.
LeBron James Blames on Out-of-Sync Lakers Offense
The Lakers had the fourth-best offense in the NBA before losing five of their last seven games to slip in the standings. They fell to ninth spot after scoring below 90 against the Timberwolves.
James did not sugarcoat what’s ailing the Lakers during this rough stretch.
“We’re just not good offensively right now,” James said, per Spectrum Sportsnet. “I think we spent so much time on trying to get our defense corrected that our offense just took a toll and took a back seat to that. We’re not great offensively right now.”
The Lakers were held below 100 points in two of their last three games. Asked what specific area they need to work on their offense, James said, “Everything.”
“It’s not just one area, but definitely spacing,” James added. “Guys have been on top of each other. We’re not getting our running habits as we were early on. But it’s a little bit of everything. It’s not just one thing.”
Anthony Davis Aptly Describes Lakers Play
It was not only James who struggled offensively. His Lakers co-star Anthony Davis also had an off night, scoring a season-low 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting against the Timberwolves’ imposing frontline.
Davis described the Lakers as if they were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
“Sometimes we look like a team that can compete with anyone, and sometimes, we’re like a team that is terrible and not going to do anything this season. We just have to figure out what team we want to be for the rest of the season,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We had games where we were phenomenal and we had games where we were disgusting — like tonight.”
The Lakers slipped to No. 8 in the strong Western Conference with a 12-9 record following the loss.
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