NEW ORLEANS (AP) — LeBron James sat at his locker — having just scored 30 points in 33 minutes to help the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pelicans on Tuesday night — when the subject of his availability to play the next night in San Antonio came up.
“Every back-to-back, for the rest of the season, it’s TBD,” James said, as in, to be determined.
“I’m 41. I’ve got the most minutes in NBA history,” James continued with an incredulous grin. “Bank it right now, OK? What are we talking about?”
It’s just that sometimes James — the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and first ever to reach 40,000 career regular season points (42,575 and counting) — can still play with the type of vigor and effectiveness that makes him seem younger and more durable than he did while sitting out this season’s first 14 games with sciatica.
James was in dominant form from the first 30 seconds until the final minutes of a 111-103 victory in the Big Easy, dunking just 19 second into the game and hitting deep 3s to ignite a decisive 18-4 run to open the fourth quarter.
It was the second time in three games that James had scored at least 30, having poured in 31 in a victory over Memphis on Friday.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said he won’t necessarily expect that kind of production from James on a regular basis, but he doesn’t want to put limits on the prolific, 23rd-year NBA superstar, either.
“I know LeBron. I know how much he puts into this. It’s just recognizing, game to game, what he has,” Redick said, comparing James to Hall-of-Fame Major League Baseball pitcher Greg Maddux during the final years of his career.
“Every night, he doesn’t have his best stuff, but he has enough to win,” Redick said. “I’m his catcher and I’ve got to figure it out.”
“What’s the best way to kind of utilize him … based on the opponent, based on the coverage, based on how he’s moving?” Redick continued. “It’s really just that ongoing dialogue with him.”
James said he considers Luka Doncic to be the Lakers’ premier player now and that it’s up to him and the rest of his teammates “to bend our game around him and figure it out.”
“It’s not a problem for me,” James added. “It’s not an issue.”
James said his goal after the victory in New Orleans was to get a good night’s sleep.
“I’m hoping my body recovers. That’s most important,” James said. “See how I feel in the morning, try to get some more rest and see how I feel when I get up from my nap. … We’ll go from there.”
But James also stressed that he’s not looking to take too many games off when he doesn’t know how many more he’ll play before his time to retire comes.
“I have more of an appreciation on a night-to-night basis when I’m able to suit it up,” James said. “I’ve never taken being in the NBA for granted, but I think it’s at this point in my career where I’m 41 years old, I just appreciate the ability to go out there.”
And Redick will keep trying to get the best out of him — without wearing him out.
“To me, what he’s doing at 41, what he did last year at 40, it’s greatness,” Redick said. “It’s just a different form of greatness.”
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