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Los Angeles Lakers: It is time to rest LeBron James, but for how long?

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 25: Patrick Beverley #21 of the Los Angeles Clippers guards LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half of the game at Staples Center on December 25, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 25: Patrick Beverley #21 of the Los Angeles Clippers guards LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half of the game at Staples Center on December 25, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers have suffered four losses in a row and LeBron James is banged up. The question shouldn’t be whether or not to rest him, but for how long?

The Los Angeles Lakers have lost more games in the last four games than they did in the previous 27 games. The Lakers were 24-3 entering December 17 when the team lost a nail-biter to the Indiana Pacers.

It happens. The Pacers are a solid team and the Lakers were in the fourth of a five-game road trip. The only problem was that the next road game was against the Milwaukee Bucks, who had their way with the Lakers en route to a 111-104 win.

LeBron James was banged up in the contest and sat three days later against the Denver Nuggets and the Lakers were thoroughly beaten 128-104. James came back on Christmas day against the Clippers and the Lakers were seemingly at full strength, losing a back and forth nailbiter, 111-106.

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We say seemingly because it became obvious throughout the game that LeBron James was still struggling with the groin injury that held him out against the Nuggets. James later told ESPN that the injury “flared up” when taking a charge from Patrick Beverley.

The Los Angeles Lakers have not yet officially announced if LeBron will miss any time but the indication seems to be that he is. The Lakers are the first seed in the Western Conference and there is a lot of the season left to play. There is no point in hurting the team’s chances down the line.

However, some Laker fans may be worried about James and the season going forward based on what happened last year. James suffered a more serious injury to his right groin, this year being his left, that held him out for quite some time and resulted in the Lakers being in the playoff picture to falling completely out.

James shouldn’t be missing that much time and the team is better off without him because of Anthony Davis. The question should be how much he should miss, not whether or not he should miss.

The Lakers have a weekend back-to-back against the Portland Trailblazers and Dallas Mavericks that he should undoubtedly sit out of, which is a shame, as Dallas is a solid team that presents a fun matchup.

It should extend further than that as well and the number that we circled as the best number of games for James to sit out of is 10. Yes, that feels like a lot (it is over one-tenth of the season) but it is for the best.

If this was down the stretch of the season and the Lakers were vying for positioning then it would be a different story. LeBron could probably come back in a week or so and be perfectly fine, however, he should not push it whatsoever.

Say what you will about load management but it has worked for Kawhi Leonard. This could be LeBron’s method of load management.

The 10-game figure was based on who the team is playing and who they can afford to play without James. After the back-to-back, the Lakers play the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic.

Seven of the 10 games are at home as well, giving the Lakers even more of an advantage. They have five games against teams they should beat just fine without James and should win at least three of those, bare minimum.

The other five games, the two against the Mavericks, the Trailblazers, the Thunder and the Magic are all winnable as well with the only really tough game being the Mavericks. Bare minimum the Lakers should win two of those games.

We are being generous and the Lakers, at worst, will go 5-5 without James in these games. That would leave the team with a 29-14 record. There is a good chance that they could reach 30 wins and beyond without LeBron.

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LeBron would then be ready for the Los Angeles Lakers’ road trip, which starts against the Houston Rockets on January 18. It would be nearly a month of action, but hey, it would probably be for the best.

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