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It may be time for the Los Angeles Lakers to start rethinking their approach to forward LeBron James' minutes on the court and their overall outlook to the young NBA season, according to ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson.
“This is the spot where you say ‘Ok (LeBron James), take a day off,'” Richard Jefferson said in a Thursday segment. “This is not ‘load management,' this is ‘he is 37 years old, on his way to 38, and has played more minutes than anybody in NBA history.'
“Instead of saying ‘you are the type of person who should be load managed, and after all that you have done to the game and on the court, you're supposed to take a day or two off.' The Lakers don't have that.”
The Lakers fell to nine losses after a recent 114-101 win by a hometown rival in the Los Angeles Clippers, kicking off one of the team's worst starts to the NBA season since 2015. The Lakers won 17 games in what would be then-head coach Byron Scott's final season leading an NBA franchise and Hall-of-Fame guard Kobe Bryant's final year in the league.
Richard Jefferson, a two-season teammate of LeBron James, said the Lakers may be in a worse situation than fans originally expected.
“They're probably about 10 games away from their season most likely being over,” Jefferson said. “I say that respectfully. They're going to be so far down in a hole, to get out of it with the team that they're playing is going to be tough.”
LA will have four players on contract and a first-round NBA draft pick swap with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2023.
The Lakers will start an important four-game home stretch when they face off against the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 p.m. PST tonight in Crypto.com Arena. The game can be streamed on Spectrum Sportsnet.
