Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham made waves in the aftermath of their season-opening loss to the Denver Nuggets when he said that they will try to keep LeBron James, the team's foundational star and the team's best player, to an average of around 29 minutes a night. It was infuriating to hear for Lakers fans; after all, it already appeared to cost them in the first game, as they fell off the pace against the Nuggets when James went to the bench in the fourth quarter to rest.

But on Thursday night, Ham made waves, but for a different reason. The Lakers, in need of their first victory of the new campaign, ended up getting 35 minutes of run from James against the Phoenix Suns; The King, as usual, was instrumental, dropping a cool 21 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists, not missing a single beat despite his age.

At this point, it remains unclear what the Lakers' exact plan is to manage LeBron James' minutes. But some pundits and talking heads are already formulating their own hypotheses; in particular, Gilbert Arenas, James' old playoff nemesis back in the mid-2000s, thinks that the Lakers will be basing James' workload on how Anthony Davis performs on the night.

“When AD is going good, LeBron rest. So next game, LeBron you good, you gonna play your 20 minutes, you ain't even got to worry about it. The next game, 40. S**t. F**kin 40, 15, 40, 15, we good,” Arenas said on the Gil's Arena Show.

Of course, if the Lakers can survive by using the strategy Gilbert Arenas thinks they will employ, then they will do it. But there's no predicting the exact game in which Anthony Davis will turn up. Davis has had to battle plenty of inconsistencies before after all. However, Arenas may be on to something; during the 2023 NBA playoffs, Davis alternated good games with mediocre ones, so maybe LeBron James will be subject to the 40-15 plan after all.

Whatever the case may be, it's clear that the Lakers still live and die by James' contributions, and that they may have to rely on him to shoulder a heavy workload still if they're at all serious about competing for a title.