3. How many minutes will LeBron James play at the 5?
There’s plenty of sports-morning-talk-show-type story lines surrounding the LeBron James led Lakers. There’s the cohesion of all the eccentric personalities, LeBron’s potential relationship with Luke Walton, and how LeBron will feel about his young teammates as the season wanes on.
One actual story line that will revolve around the actual product that the team will put on the court is the question of how much time LeBron will spend at the 5 throughout the season.
The NBA has obviously been through a small-ball, 3-point-driven revolution led by the Golden State Warriors. The league is a copycat league, and many others have tried to replicate the Warriors success of a small-ball “death” lineup that they use with Draymond Green at the 5. Green is big, but not traditional-NBA-center big.
LeBron James could theoretically be used in the same way as Green for the Lakers, allowing for them to have their surplus of quality wings be used as much as possible. If LeBron doesn’t play at the 5, that will cause JaVale McGee and/or Ivica Zubac to play more minutes than they’ve played in their careers. In addition, LeBron not playing much at the 5 would negatively impact the playing time of other bench wing players such as Josh Hart, Lance Stephenson, and Svi Mykhailiuk.
LeBron playing at the 5 is somewhat of a no-brainer in regards to putting out the best basketball product. A line up of LeBron-Kuzma-Ingram-KCP (or Hart)-Lonzo would be deadly on the defensive end and on the offensive end.
LeBron has, however, shown reluctance to play the 4, let alone the 5. When Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report first reported about the Lakers possibly wanting to play LeBron at the 5, he talked about how LeBron didn’t really do that much with the Cavs, even though it was beneficial.
"Last season, James didn’t play center often for the Cleveland Cavaliers (just 1.5 percent of his time on the floor, according to Nylon Calculus). The Cavs’ most productive lineup with James at the 5 featured George Hill, JR Smith, Kyle Korver and Jeff Green. That group played just 22 minutes together, per NBA.com, averaging a 9.3 positive net rating per 100 possessions."
It would also cause LeBron to exert more effort on the defensive end being matched up against opposing team’s centers. LeBron is well known for taking time off on the defensive end (especially during the regular season) to help him give 110 percent on the offensive end. If the Lakers commit to him playing extended time at the five, he won’t have the luxury of taking time off on defense.
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— Silver Screen and Roll (@LakersSBN) August 11, 2018
LeBron has jokingly referenced the idea in an Instagram story (above), so at least he knows about it. It’ll be interesting to see what Luke Walton and LeBron James say to the media in response to inevitable questions about LeBron at the 5. They might elaborate on the subject, or just say “We will see what plays at through training camp”, to fend off the media.