Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made his 2025-26 season debut for the purple and gold in Tuesday’s big win over the Utah Jazz. In doing so, he became the first player in NBA history to play in 23 seasons, an unthinkable feat for a player who still undoubtedly ranks as one of the 15 best players in basketball. But him and head coach JJ Redick are going to need a constant dialogue throughout the season.
James missed the first 14 games of the year already due to a sciatica injury. And even before that injury was announced, LeBron and Redick both spoke about the need to manage workloads to help keep the soon-to-be 41-year-old fresh for the playoffs.
So now that James is back in the mix, those conversations are once again being started. Redick spoke about what his conversations with LeBron will look like and how they plan to manage him throughout the season.
“Yeah, we’ll do what we did last year, which is daily communication with him, with Mike (Mancias),” Redick said. “We’re gonna have to, I used the word uncharted territory a few times in the preseason, we’re gonna have to just manage this as best as we can given there’s no precedent for it.
“He knows his body better than anyone, Mike obviously probably No. 2 there. So the level of communication we had last year and throughout this 6-7 week period has been really good so I don’t expect it to change there. We’ll figure out ways to get him rest when he needs rest.”
In order for LeBron to be eligible for end-of-season awards, he would only be able to miss another three games the entire rest of the season. That seems unlikely given the discussions they are already having about managing workload.
The Lakers have nine more back-to-backs this season alone, and it would not be surprising at all for James to avoid all nine. As it seems awards are not the focus of this season, but rather keeping LeBron as healthy as possible for the playoffs, as fatigue was clearly a factor in last year’s first round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Luka Doncic explains how LeBron James can help with transition offense
The Lakers sit at 11-4 through the first 15 games of the 2025-26 NBA season. It’s extremely impressive for them to be at that figure, as LeBron James has played in one game, while Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have each missed time as well. But a deeper dive into the numbers show that the Lakers are still a somewhat flawed team that has important fixes to make.
One of those fixes has been their transition offense, a somewhat surprising issue for a team led by Doncic and Reaves. But through 14 games — prior to James’ season debut — the Lakers ranked 27th in the NBA in fastbreak points. They scored just 12.6 points per game in that way, only ahead of the Charlotte Hornets, L.A. Clippers and Brooklyn Nets. They sat almost 10 full points behind the No. 1 fastbreak team, the Toronto Raptors.
In LeBron’s debut, the Lakers scored 15 points in transition, which is slightly better but still could be improved upon. Doncic explained exactly what James does well to help in transition and what his return can do for the Lakers.
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