Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will not play in the team’s preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
However, James told reporters Thursday he hopes to suit up for at least half of the team’s preseason matchups this fall.
“Six preseason games, so hopefully I can get to at least half of them,” James said after practice. “But we’ll see. I think every game will dictate it. I will not be playing in Saturday’s game, that’s for sure, in the Bay. But we’ll see after that.”
James, 38, is the oldest active player in the NBA and is coming off a 2022-23 campaign in which he appeared in just 55 games due to a right foot injury. That said, it’s no surprise he’s not playing the entire preseason.
James enters the 2023-24 campaign fully healthy, but Lakers head coach Darvin Ham acknowledged that the team’s medical staff and the veteran’s personal trainer worked in collaboration to create a plan to help him stay healthy this year.
“We collaborate and communicate on what those steps will be,” Ham said. “We make sure we come up with an effective plan. The beautiful thing about the way we move forward is one, he’s in phenomenal shape; two, he’s probably got more years in experience outside of [Anthony Davis] than the entire team combined in terms of games played and minutes played. And he takes phenomenal care of himself.”
In addition to two matchups against the Warriors, the Lakers also have preseason games against the Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. They open the regular season on Oct. 24 against the Denver Nuggets.
Despite being the oldest player in the NBA, James is still competing like one of the best players in the league. Last season, he averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from deep.
The Lakers were ultimately swept by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
The Purple and Gold enter the 2023-24 season with higher expectations as they hope to contend for another championship. As long as James stays healthy, they should be among the top teams in the West.
