Through the first few weeks of the 2017-18 season, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has continued to play a heavy minute workload.
It has remained a constant topic of discussion throughout the process, especially with the Cavaliers’ early-season struggles. According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland, it has begun to wear thin on both head coach Tyronn Lue and LeBron James.
“Yeah, I hear about that all the time,” Lue said. “I played with Michael Jordan when he was 39 he played 37 minutes a night. Karl Malone was 37, played 38 minutes a night, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe. Everybody’s built different. If you’re one of the greats, sometimes you’ve got to play, sometimes you get rest like tonight.”
James said after Monday’s win: “You make so much a big thing about my minutes. It’s not a huge issue. But at the end of the day, when we can get a win like this, everybody benefits from it. Not just me. Everybody.”
The 32-year-old currently leads the league with 37.9 minutes per contest, which is just a hair more than Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo at 37.8 minutes. James did play a season-low 27 minutes in Monday’s blowout 116-88 win over the Detroit Pistons, but his workload has remained quite high.
The reason for the increased attention toward that aspect is due to James coming off a seventh straight NBA Finals appearance, which entails plenty of time on the floor without much rest in the process. That said, he hasn’t voiced any concern about that affecting him in any manner at this point in time.
What should be taken into consideration is that James has strict health regime that has allowed him to avoid any serious injury over the first 14 years of his career. He may now be in his early 30s, but his commitment to his physical health should minimize any real concern on his end of things.
