Hey there! Did you know that LeBron James, in his 15th season, is averaging an NBA-leading 37.9 minutes per game? And did you also know his average spiked past 38 minutes prior to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ demolition of the Detroit Pistons on Monday night? And did you know that this is entirely too many minutes for him to be playing as he nears his 33rd birthday and tries to secure an eighth straight NBA Finals appearance?
And, finally, did you know that Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue doesn’t care?
From Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon:
“Yeah, I hear about that all the time,” Lue said. “I played with Michael Jordan when he was 39 he played 37 minutes a night. Karl Malone was 37, played 38 minutes a night, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe. Everybody’s built different. If you’re one of the greats, sometimes you’ve got to play, sometimes you get rest like tonight.”
Solid comparison, Tyronn Lue. Except it’s not. The game is different today than it was during Michael Jordan’s twilight years with the Washington Wizards. Just look at this breakdown using MJ’s age 39 campaign:
average pace during Michael Jordan's age 39 season (37 MPG in 02-03): 91 possessions per 48 minutes
average pace this year, LeBron James' age 33 season: 98.5
MJ's career minutes prior to age 39 season (playoffs included): 45,454
LeBron's career minutes entering 2017-18: 50,399 https://t.co/jYCfPONC9S
— Dan Favale (@danfavale) November 21, 2017
Now, the NBA generally played at a faster pace for much of Jordan’s career. But we cannot discount the years he took off, and more importantly, we’re looking only at these two seasons. The game is different than it was 2002-03—faster and, for someone like LeBron who handles primary playmaking duties, more demanding.
Plus, who the bleepity bleep cares what Jordan did as an old basketball man. He’s not LeBron. And this is not his NBA. Rest is paramount. Everyone and their mother’s second cousin twice removed by divorce has research to back that up. James has played an unprecedented number of minutes for someone his age; he’ll pass Kobe Bryant for the most total time logged through his age 33 season by the end of this year, according to Basketball-Reference–and that’s not including his body of postseason work.
LeBron, per Vardon, isn’t concerned about his minutes. He’s superhuman. He wants to play. That makes sense. And maybe he’ll be fine. But maybe he won’t be. Either way, the spirit of the point stands: James should not be leading the NBA in minutes per game for a Cavs squad that, until recently, was fighting to stave above .500. The rules of time and physics and what not may not apply to him, but he still needs to be as fresh as possible for the playoffs. Working him this hard now, at the bare minimum, does nothing to guarantee that.
