3. The Lakers will lose games they’d otherwise win
The NBA, more than the three other major sports we have in our nation, is a superstar-driven league. At the most basic level, you need elite talent to win in the NBA.
The Lakers have one of the best records in the NBA. However, the Western Conference can flip quickly as we saw last season when James got hurt.
If James sits outs even, say, five games for load management, the Lakers will likely lose one or two of those games. For the physical benefits of load management to really take effect, you’d probably have to sit someone like James, especially as he nears his 35th birthday, around 15-20 games a season.
Can you imagine how missing that many games would hurt the Lakers’ record?
Using last season’s standings as a model, the Golden State Warriors finished first with a 57-25 record. The Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers were third and fourth, respectively, with identical 53-29 records. Not much of a difference.
James missing a handful of games to preserve him could mean the difference between the Lakers having home court advantage possibly through the NBA Finals and a relatively easy first round playoff opponent and maybe not having home court advantage past the first round, or maybe not at all, and also facing a team like the Clippers, Jazz, Houston Rockets or Denver Nuggets in the first round.