There are plenty of reasons to be at least somewhat concerned about the Los Angeles Lakers. They are 16-15 and in ninth place in the Western Conference, and they have lost six of their last eight games. While their defensive numbers aren’t too bad, they rank 17th in scoring and 23rd in offensive rating.
Those offensive struggles are one reason for the increased minutes LeBron James and Anthony Davis are playing. James is averaging 34.3 minutes a game, which is too high for him at this point of his career. Davis is at 35.8 minutes per game, which is ninth in the NBA.
Head coach Darvin Ham doesn’t sound concerned about their workload. In fact, he seems to see extended minutes for them as a good thing given how well they’re playing.
Via Lakers Nation:
“Not really. Because it’s not just them being out there, they’re excelling at a high level,” Ham said following practice Wednesday.
“Both of those guys are playing at an extremely high level and they want to be on the floor. It’s not like, OK, we’re low on bodies so we got to force them to play. Nah. A lot of it has to do with their performance. They’re performing at a high level so it’s tough.
“But just try to get them breaks when you can but when they’re playing like that, it’s hard. Because you need it and again, they’re in a good rhythm. They don’t want to sit on the bench for long when they’ve got it going at a high level.”
James is averaging 25.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists a game while shooting a very high percentage. Davis has put up 29.2 points and 12.5 rebounds a contest so far in December, and it looks like he’s rediscovering his 3-point stroke.