Los Angeles Lakers: 3 big questions going into the 2020-21 NBA season

1. How much will LeBron James rest this season?

Eight days into the 2020-21 NBA season, LeBron James will turn 36 years old. In basketball years, that’s the equivalent of when your children start discussing retirement communities. “Shaded Oaks, that sounds lovely. Look, seven kinds of soft-serve ice cream!” LeBron James is coming off a dominant year, including his fourth title and Finals MVP award. Even so, Father Time is undefeated.

The list of players who have averaged at least twenty points per game at LeBron’s age or older is just four players long: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and Kobe Bryant. Only Kareem and Malone did so for winning teams. James will seek to do the extremely rare, and for as many years as possible.

That may mean more rest than he has indulged in before. Some players have had their minutes and games managed aggressively for years, from Kawhi Leonard to Tim Duncan. In Duncan’s case, the San Antonio Spurs helped to extend his career despite his long playoff runs.

James is getting older, he has logged the second-most minutes of anyone in the league over the past decade (behind just James Harden) and played more postseason games this past season than anyone not on the Lakers. Add in the record-breaking turnaround from the Finals until now (just 71 days, the shortest in league history), and the Lakers will be forced to rest James.

The question is how much? Historically, James’ teams have cratered in games where he did not play. Last season he sat out just four games, and the Lakers went a respectable 2-2. Part of the reason for that is a small sample size, but part of it is that he has a co-star the likes of which he has not had since his Miami Heat days. Davis can take on more of the two-way burden with James out.

This year’s Lakers team will also have a true replacement at point guard in Dennis Schroeder. Last year Rajon Rondo was an option, but until the playoffs, he was a shaky one. Schroeder has the playmaking pop to run things in James’ absence as well. Put it together, and the Lakers have pieces in place to make this work.

James will almost certainly play in the opening week marquee games, but then he may enter a more rigorous rest program. It would not be insane to see him skip a game every other week to keep his body fresh. He will likely push to play, but the team has to communicate the long-term value in keeping him ready for another postseason, one where another title could mean drawing to within one of Michael Jordan.