LeBron James doesn’t plan to sit out, could be open to playing fewer minutes if Lakers fall further out of playoff race

As the Los Angeles Lakers continue to fall further out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, some have suggested that the Lakers should shut down All-Star forward LeBron James for the remainder of the season in order to preserve his body and health for the future. 

“If I were the Lakers, I would shut LeBron down,” Boston Celtics legend and current ESPN NBA analyst Paul Pierce said last week. “No, seriously. He’s getting older, he has to do too much for them to win. Just look at … he puts out a triple-double, and they can’t win. Just imagine if he really goes out and really exerts himself and has to go for 40… This season was a wash coming into it. They weren’t contending from the jump… Why am I gonna put more wear and tear on LeBron? I need him for three more years. This window is this short. This window is this short to take advantage of LeBron now. He’s still — to me — I think he’s pretty much still injured.  

“I’d rather him rest, and come back fresh next year, and see what the Lakers can do over the summer to make this team a contender.”  

James himself was presented with the idea of sitting some games down the stretch after the Lakers 113-105 loss to the Clippers on Monday night, and he basically shut down the notion.  

“That would take a lot of convincing from Luke [Walton] on up,” James said, via ESPN. “Unless I’m hurt, I’m not sitting games.”  

While James is clearly against sitting out for games in their entirety, he didn’t rule out potentially reducing his workload as the season draws closer to its conclusion in order to not only monitor his minutes but also provide the franchise with an opportunity to further evaluate the young players on their roster prior to any decisions that could be made in terms of changes over the course of the offseason. 

“Well I mean that’s a conversation that would probably be had between me and Luke,” James said. “… “You kind of look at the rest of the games, and look at the percentages of what’s going on there in the future, and see what makes more sense for not only me but the team itself as well.” 

With 18 games remaining, the Lakers sit 5.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the West, and while they’re not yet mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, it seems to be only a matter of time until they are, and at that point, it is likely that James will see his minutes drop dramatically.