The Los Angeles Lakers held their first practice on training camp on Tuesday, and LeBron James was among the players notable not on the floor.
JJ Redick revealed after practice that James is dealing with minor nerve irritation in his glute and considering the 40-year-old is entering his 23rd season, they are going to proceed with caution in training camp and the preseason.
“It’s probably a little bit longer of a ramp-up leading into Opening Night,” Redick said. “Obviously in Year 23, uncharted territory here. I felt, and in talking with the performance (staff) and LeBron, he probably did too much last year in camp. Which was great for me as a first-year head coach to get buy-in from him. But it will be a slower process with him leading into the first game. He’s obviously got 22 years so far of wear and tear on the body and he’s dealing with a little bit of nerve irritation in the glute. So we’re playing the long-game with LeBron.”
No one has ever played 23 NBA seasons, so it’s hard to compare James to stars of the past. What Redick is doing though is looking at how the Lakers handled everything with LeBron last year so they can learn from their mistakes and ensure he stays healthy in 2025-26.
“You’ll hear me use this a lot, but it is uncharted territory. I don’t think there’s a blueprint for someone who’s had this amount of mileage and this many minutes and has been asked to do so many things on both ends of the court. We asked a lot of him last year, we asked a lot of him to start the year in camp. So it’s just working as a partnership to try to figure out what’s best.”
Redick added that James is on board and everyone is on the same page about the plan. It remains to be seen if that plan includes playing in any of the Lakers’ six preseason games, however.
“It would be nice. It would be nice, for sure,” Redick admitted. “We would love to have that happen. And if it doesn’t, we’ll just make it work.”
Like Redick said, it would be great if LeBron played in the preseason to build chemistry with Luka Doncic and the other starters. Being healthy for the regular season is more important though, of course, so it makes sense to be cautious with James.
LeBron James discusses training camp plan
LeBron James echoed JJ Redick when he spoke on Lakers Media Day about his plan for training camp and the preseason.
“It remains to be seen,” James told ESPN when asked about his planned participation in training camp and the preseason. “Obviously, I want to be out there as much as I can … but we know where I’m at, and the coaching staff knows where I’m at as far as me getting to a place where we’re all good as far as getting on the court.
“It’s Year 23 from me. I got a lot of miles on my game. I’ve trained throughout the course of the offseason, but just my presence is going to be important as well. Making sure that even if I’m not on the floor, I’m always in tune to what we’re doing so I know what’s going on at all times. So, just looking forward to that.”
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