After LeBron James’ injury on Christmas day, the King saw his longest absence with an injury in his entire career. After exiting in the 3rd quarter on December 25th, the next time he made a return to the court was on January 31st against the Los Angeles Clippers.
In his return, he played 40 minutes in an overtime win. February saw Lebron average 37.5 minutes per game and March, his playing time went up to 38.3 minutes per game as the Lakers made a last ditch effort to make the playoffs.
After playing 31 minutes against the Nuggets (and passing Michael Jordan in career points), Lebron will not be on a minute restriction.
BREAKING: @ChrisBHaynes reports Lakers will put LeBron on a minutes restriction and likely won't let him play back-to-backs. pic.twitter.com/02jI7UYIsp
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 7, 2019
As reported by Chris Haynes, LeBron will be limited to 32 minutes per game and will not be allowed to play back to backs.
This makes sense as the Lakers are looking less likely to make the playoffs this season and looking to preserve him for next year.
After averaging 34 minutes per game in October and November, the 34-year-old was averaging fewer minutes per game than he was his entire career. But it was clear that after his return from injury, LeBron did not quite look like he was 100% up to speed physically.
With the reduction of minutes and back to backs, here’s hoping that LeBron can stay healthy and gear up for a better sophomore season with the Lakers.
