– Protects James
Over the course of his career, James has one of the most durable players that we have seen in the last decade. Last season, James was able to play in every regular season game, and helped lead his team to the NBA Finals. In this day and age where players frequently rest, James has been extremely durable.
However, with that durability has come a lot of minutes and miles on the body of James. On Christmas, the Lakers’ season suffered what ended up being their death blow when James went down with a groin injury.
At the time of the injury, the Lakers were in fourth place in the Western Conference and things were looking good. However, without James, the Lakers weren’t able to hold on to their playoff position.
With James having his workload limited for the rest of the season, this should hopefully help him avoid any more wear and tear this season. James being healthy for next season and beyond is what’s really important now that they have missed the playoffs this season. While many would consider this season a failure, and strong offseason and a healthy LeBron next season can end the Lakers’ playoff drought.