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Los Angeles Lakers: 3 New Year’s resolutions for 2021

By Orestis Rantis

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 27: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers talk during the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on November 27, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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 Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 27: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers talk during the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on November 27, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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 Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images /

2. Do not overplay the stars

Let’s face it. Despite his inhumane nature, LeBron is approaching the retirement age for all the non-robotic athletes. On the one hand, he’s never had any injury issues to drag him down. On the other hand, why risk it now?

His buddy, Anthony Davis is known for picking up approximately 17 different minor injuries per quarter of play. He too hasn’t had any long-term problems health-wise but he appears to be prone to mild pain.

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Luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers, their roster runs deep. How deep? Well, if you were to divide the squad into two different franchises, both of them would probably still make the playoffs. As a result, the team can afford to rest their players without breaking a sweat.

So far, Frank Vogel has done a great job managing the minutes of this superstar duo. James is averaging a career-low 32.2 minutes per game, with Davis leading the way at 33.2 minutes per game, which is below his career average.

By resting LeBron and AD the team might drop some winnable games. So what? In a team that has a 100 percent chance of making the playoffs as a top-seeded team, a few losses are a fair price to pay for the well-being of your franchise cornerstones.

2020 was a peculiar year for us all. The outcome of the prolonged 2019-20 NBA Season was the lack of rest amongst the league’s stars whose teams made a deep playoff run. After just two months of rest, time management will be crucial to their defending campaign this season.

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