The Los Angeles Lakers, facing a grueling January schedule with multiple back-to-backs, have eliminated morning shootarounds to manage LeBron James' workload and keep the team fresh.
The Los Angeles Lakers are entering one of the most demanding stretches of their season, with games coming almost every other day and two back-to-back sets scheduled before the end of January.
Los Angeles Lakers / Schedule
In total, the team still has 11 games to play this month, forcing the coaching staff to prioritize recovery and player health.
With that in mind, head coach JJ Redick revealed that the Lakers have made a notable adjustment to their routine: no more shootarounds on game days.
The decision, made nearly two weeks ago, is largely about managing LeBron James' workload, now in his 23rd NBA season.
"We made the decision 12-13 days ago that we weren't gonna do shootaround in the mornings anymore," Redick said on Sunday. "Part of that thought process was we have a 41-year-old who shouldn't be on his feet twice a day.
"Let's only rev his engine once. The other part of it was just reading personnel, like what are we really getting out of shootaround based on who's on our team."
Credit AP/Scanpix
Redick recalled similar decisions being made midseason on previous teams, including his time in Philadelphia, where the schedule was adjusted to better suit Joel Embiid.
"That's just the reality," Redick went on to say. "And I was on a number of teams that would make that decision halfway through a year. In Philly, we always met at the arena after the first month and a half of the season because that was good for Joel. That was good for our star player for him not have to wake up at 8 a.m., drive in, get to the facility, all that stuff. It was just good for him.
"So, we kind of made that decision, and Friday night felt like we were a little tired, to be honest with you. We gave our effort, but we just didn't have the pop and the juice against Milwaukee, and I would probably attribute that to back-to-back 3 a.m. get into a city nights on Tuesday and Wednesday. ... You have to read it in real time."
LeBron has been carefully managed all season. Since returning in November from a sciatica injury, he has not played in any back-to-back games.
Credit AP - Scanpix
James has missed 17 contests so far and has appeared in 19 games, averaging 33.3 minutes per night along with 21.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 6.9 assists.
"This is, generally speaking, our toughest month just from a game standpoint," Redick noted. "We got front-loaded to start the season, and then we kind of paced everything out. Now, we're front-loaded again this month. But it's kind of just for us to kind of deal with it. I think it's just reading the team."
The Lakers will put those adjustments to the test immediately, opening a back-to-back on Monday with a road matchup against the Sacramento Kings before returning home on Tuesday to take on the Atlanta Hawks.
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