As Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James heads into his 22nd NBA season, managing his workload to stay healthy and fresh will be essential.
James is coming off a season in which he played 71 regular season games which was exceptional, but it is hard to imagine that being the case again in 2024-25.
This summer was an unusual one for James as he played for Team USA in the Paris Olympics, bringing home a third gold medal. That put extra stress on his body though and changed up his typical offseason routine, so he may need to take things easy in training camp and the preseason.
James obviously will want to play as many games as possible, which means it will be on the coaching and training staff to manage his workload throughout the year. New head coach JJ Redick discussed exactly how they plan to do that.
“I think it goes again back to the communication. LeBron, myself, Mike (Mancias), LeRoy (Sims), we’ve already sort of talked through what October will look like for him as we ramp up,” Redick said at a recent press conference.
“I think everyone in this building is cognizant of the fact that he’s almost 40. But when we watch the pick-up games, he’s going full tilt. If he’s going on the court, he’s going. So in some ways, sometimes we maybe have to save him from himself, whether that’s in training camp, practices throughout the season. But we’ll be mindful and thoughtful. We have a process for all of that as well.”
Rob Pelinka recently revealed that James has been going at his son Bronny during offseason workouts, so clearly taking things easy is not in his DNA, even at age 39.
JJ Redick discusses relationship with LeBron James
JJ Redick and LeBron were close friends that hosted a basketball podcast together last year. Now that they are coach and player though, Redick spoke on how their dynamic has changed, if at all.
“Yeah, I think it’s in the early stages of that relationship, particularly because LeBron was doing USA basketball for most of the summer,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure where he went, but he gave himself a nice vacation. But he’s been back in the gym the last two weeks. And I think the biggest thing is just communication on all levels. I was constantly texting him and AD once they finished up in Paris as we sort of built out our languages. We just sent him our potential installs of offensive sets, our languages, defensively and offensively, talking through things with him on the court since he’s been here. So I think the biggest thing is just the communication that we already inherently have that’s just continuing to grow.”
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