LeBron James opened up his 21st season by being limited to 29 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 119-107 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said the tapered workload for the 38-year-old superstar is part of the team’s plan moving forward.
“It’s easy with him to get caught up in the emotion of the game and you tend to forget you want to play these long stretches, but in order for him to be as effective as possible, we have to be mindful of the minute output and how long his stretches are,” Ham said.
The Nuggets led by as many as 18, jumping on L.A. in the opening quarter and riding the energy provided by a raucous Ball Arena crowd of 19,842 on hand to celebrate the first ring night in franchise history.
By the time the crowd was chanting “Who’s your daddy?” to mock the Lakers in the final minute, James was already done for the night, pulled with L.A. trailing 115-103.
James still led L.A. in scoring with 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting and was tied for the team high with eight rebounds. He added five assists and committed zero turnovers, and his plus-minus of plus-7 was the best of any of the Lakers starters.
“Listen, I mean, I always want to be on the floor. Especially when you got an opportunity to win a game or you feel like you can make an impact,” James said after the game. “But this is the system in place and I’m going to follow it.”
When asked if he would have to adjust his approach with less playing time night to night, James made it clear that he was confident in his ability to impact the game with the added rest built in.
“Besides the fact that we didn’t win,” James said, “I think for me, my performance and what I did individually in the time that I was out there, I think I was productive. I think so. I mean, I was a plus-7 for the game. No turnovers. I like the no turnovers more than anything.”
James’ adjusted role will make it even more imperative for L.A. to get productive play out of the 30-year-old big man Anthony Davis.
Davis led L.A. with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half in Denver and went scoreless in the second half, going 0-for-6 from the field.