LeBron James playing at least four preseason games?

James was asked after practice Friday how many preseason games he wants to participate in. “More than I played last year,” James said. “How many did I play last year? More than I played last year.” Last season, James played in three of the Lakers’ …

James was asked after practice Friday how many preseason games he wants to participate in. “More than I played last year,” James said. “How many did I play last year? More than I played last year.” Last season, James played in three of the Lakers’ six preseason games. With a new coach in Darvin Ham, a new system and just six players returning from last season’s team, the plan for James playing preseason games is being worked out.

Source: Broderick Turner @ Los Angeles Times

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Jovan Buha @jovanbuha
Darvin Ham revealed his potential starting lineup for the first time on Friday.
Why Ham chose Kendrick Nunn and Damian Jones, Nunn’s emergence in camp, building a lineup around LeBron/AD/Russ, the potential downside of the lineup and more: theathletic.com/3645720/2022/0… – 11:04 PM
Chris Mannix @SIChrisMannix
Takeaways from Lakers practice:
▪️ Team is very — very — excited about Kendrick Nunn
▪️ LeBron on “lifestyle” fueled diet change
▪️ How quickly can the Lakers master a new defense?
More: bit.ly/3SKmpQx – 8:18 PM
The Vertical @YahooSportsNBA
“The day you think you could stop learning is the day you start going backwards.”
LeBron on how it’s been with Lakers’ new HC Darvin Ham.
pic.twitter.com/LEQbcBRo70 – 7:41 PM
Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
LeBron James said he made some “lifestyle” tweaks to his diet this past offseason. LeBron on what he expects that will do for his 20th NBA season pic.twitter.com/mTzvPcILnZ – 7:11 PM

Dave McMenamin @mcten
New story: Darvin Ham revealed his initial starting lineup and LeBron committed to more preseason action than his past exhibition habits as the Lakers wrapped up the first week of training camp Friday es.pn/3dTZdkm – 6:49 PM
Mike Trudell @LakersReporter
Story from today’s practice, featuring updates from LeBron and Darvin Ham with preseason Game No. 1 just a weekend away: nba.com/lakers/news/le… – 6:45 PM
Kyle Goon @kylegoon
LeBron’s cautionary tale about pickleball after his investment into MLP: “A friend of mine around my age said he went to a pickleball place one time and there was like some 60-year-old men there, and he thought he was gonna show up and just dominate, and he got his ass kicked.” – 4:55 PM
Melissa Rohlin @melissarohlin
LeBron on being a player-coach: pic.twitter.com/fd6yRxIsUJ – 4:28 PM

Mike Bresnahan @Mike_Bresnahan
Quick takeaways from today’s practice…
1) Kendrick Nunn + Damian Jones have been filling out the starting five with AD, LeBron + Russ.
2) LeBron will play more pre-season games than he did last year (two).
3) If LeBron says he’s good at pickleball, he’s good at pickleball. – 4:27 PM
Mike Trudell @LakersReporter
Darvin Ham said an early starting group has been:
Westbrook, Nunn, LeBron, Davis and Jones
Ham today noted how well Nunn has been playing thus far.
Austin Reaves has gotten looks at SG as well, and clearly, Patrick Beverley can fit well with any group. – 4:08 PM
Brad Turner @BA_Turner
Nunn and Damian Jones have run with Bron, AD and Russ on first team, per Darvin Ham – 4:07 PM
Jovan Buha @jovanbuha
Darvin Ham said the most used starting lineup in practices has been Damian Jones, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Kendrick Nunn and Russell Westbrook. But he clarifies he hasn’t decided on a five-man group yet. – 4:06 PM
Dave McMenamin @mcten
Darvin Ham says he was been going with LeBron, AD, Russ, Nunn and Damian Jones in the first unit thus far in camp – 4:06 PM
Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
LeBron James on investing in a pickle ball team pic.twitter.com/XQP8qKMUXJ – 3:59 PM

Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
LeBron James expects to play more preseason games this season than he did last season (2). – 3:55 PM
Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
LeBron James on his role in his 20th season pic.twitter.com/JHJ232EuLW – 3:55 PM

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter
LeBron said he expects to play in more preseason games this season than he did last year (which was 2). – 3:53 PM
Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
📅 On this day in 2020, the @Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James had 25 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists in a 116-98 win over the Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
James became the seventh player to appear in 50 Finals games. He’s the only one to do so with three different teams. pic.twitter.com/zESoM6lwKb – 3:01 PM

More on this storyline

Ham said that they will “figure all of that out” in the coming days. “Obviously we have those type of things on our board and on our laundry list of things to get done,” Ham said. “But our focus has totally been on trying to establish a style of play on both sides of the ball, establish our principles and make sure we’re executing the basic foundation of who we are and what our identity will be. But definitely my coaching staff and I, we have had light discussions about what that’s going to look like, how many preseason games, how many minutes.” -via Los Angeles Times / October 1, 2022
Ham noted Nunn’s ability to score at all three levels, from three, to the mid-range, and at the rim, while praising his work defensively as well, showing that he can squeeze through pick and rolls, avoid screens and contest shots on the perimeter. It takes time for some players to learn how to play alongside a defensive magnet like LeBron, but that process has begun. “You deal with it by getting on the floor, getting in the game, logging minutes,” said LeBron. “You start to get more and more into the game, watching more and more film, more and more practices and it starts to come with time. I think that will continue to happen with the new guys we have this year.” -via NBA.com / October 1, 2022