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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton has been playing for a long time trying to reduce the time that LeBron James stays on the basketball court this season.
"We are four years old," Walton said Wednesday on the eve of the first game of the Lakers season against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Of course, Walton was referring to the contract that James had signed this summer to come to Latin America (guaranteed three years, with a player option for the fourth). He claims that he's not about to exhaust James, who will turn 34 in December, this season while the Lakers were hoping to enter a championship window further into James's tenure. with the team.
"We want to make sure we do not play at our best at the end of the season, but that it's cool," Walton said. "And that is a goal for us – and the goal is that we make a trip and that it is not a one year trip." We keep trying. being and becoming our best season by season, but also as everyone advances.
"And of course, it gives us the best opportunity to be at the top of our game."
James led the league in minutes last season, playing 36.9 per night for the The Cleveland Cavaliers. Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee, who is 10 years younger than James, was second at 36.7. Cavs officials joked privately that "the sole has run out of tires" while James switched to L.A. after playing so much last season. Walton, without mentioning a precise figure, wants James's minutes to be in a "reasonable" range.
"It will probably change with how we play as a team, where we are for the season," said Walton. "We will try to keep it to a reasonable number." To do this, Walton presented his plan to use a rotation deeper than the turnstile of a typical team of nine to ten people.
"We want to play fast and to do that, we have to get in and out guys," Walton said. "So we're going to have a good amount of guys there."
Last season was also the first time in 15 seasons that James has played 82 games in the regular season. James says that it was a result of health and not a goal. He's taking the same approach this season.
"I did not have a number [of games in mind] Last year, "said James this week. Get out and if my body feels good, I'm there. If my body is not able to perform at the level I would like to play for my teammates, I will not do it. "
Walton said that James was still going 82-82 is "definitely a possibility."
"Stay with me, it's always nice, you have to take it as it comes," Walton said. "See how the season is going, go into those difficult times, are there stubborn injuries that are occurring or not, and that's when you would do it." let's not just rest someone just in my opinion. "
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