LeBron James is an old man for the NBA. It sometimes doesn't look like it, but the Los Angeles Lakers start is already on the wrong side of 40 this season. Even though he's already older than everyone in the league, though, LA still relies on LeBron more than fans want to power them through the season.
It's clearly been working: the Lakers are third in the crowded Western Conference with a 42-25 record and trail behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. However, everyone knows that Los Angeles needs to find a way to make James less involved to preserve him for the rest of the season. Lakers head coach JJ Redick echoed this sentiment ahead of their game against the Houston Rockets, but also highlighted that they were at their best when LeBron was used more than a regular player.
“He’s still going to be, and still has been, a high-usage player relative to your average player,” Redick said, per Benjamin Royer.“The best thing for our team is being the third-highest-used player, you know, and obviously there’s been stretches of the year where he’s had to do more with injuries or guys being out of lineup.”
While James isn't the same solo world-beater that he once was, the Lakers star still rely on him a lot. In terms of scoring, James is the third-leading scorer after the All-Star break with 18.7 points per game in 10 games. He's behind Luka Doncic (32.7) and Austin Reaves in the Lakers' scoring list. James is also adding 5.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, as he's ceded control of the offense to both Doncic and Reaves.
James and the Lakers are looking for their first championship since their 2020 ring in the bubble. Los Angeles has come close in previous years, but they have never made it back to the Finals. Will this be the year that James wins his sixth championship and ties Michael Jordan's six rings?
