LeBron: Draymond is right, I play too many minutes
LeBron James agrees with Draymond Green; the Cleveland Cavaliers may be running The King into the ground.
The Golden State Warriors star asserted the seemingly "super-human" James will eventually show signs of wear and tear if he carries on at his current pace, and the four-time MVP admits he's been shouldering an exorbitant workload.
"Draymond's right," James told Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon after being made aware of Green's comments. "We want to get those minutes down for sure. But as of right now, we've had two point guards out and we've had some different lineup changes, so, I've had to play more minutes than I would like, and more minutes than my teammates would like me to have."
Turning 33 years old next month and competing in his 15th season - with seven consecutive trips to the Finals - James continues to average a league-high 38.1 minutes per game. His usage rate has dipped below 30 (29.6) for the first time since 2005, at least.
The hope was that head coach Tyronn Lue would be able to sit James for stretches throughout the 2017-18 campaign and keep him relatively rested for another extended postseason run. With injuries to guards Isaiah Thomas and Derrick Rose, along with the Cavs barely keeping their heads above water, James has been called upon to go above and beyond in November.
"The caliber of players that we have, you always would like to, you know, get a couple more minutes here, couple more minutes there, and be a lot fresher down the stretch," added James. "Draymond's right, he's right on point with it. But there's going to be games where I have to play 40. There's going to be games where I can play 32.
"Hopefully it all evens out, especially when IT comes back, DRose comes back, Tristan (Thompson) comes back, we get more firepower."
Through 15 appearances, James' scoring (28.3 points), and shooting percentages (57.9 percent from the field, 39.3 percent from 3-point range, and 81.4 percent from the charity stripe) have all seen improvements from last season. He's also contributing 7.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists for a Cavaliers squad that's won three in a row and four of its last five.