Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue tired of questions about LeBron James' minutes
Since turning 30 four years ago, LeBron James has never averaged less than 35.1 minutes per game. This season, he’s at 37.9 mpg, the most he’s logged since the 2012-13 season with the Miami Heat. Concerns about James wearing down never seem to have much merit as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star always seems to find another gear late in the season and into the playoffs.
Of late, though, Cavs fans have been concerned about James’ minutes load — chatter that has not been lost on Cavs coach Tyronn Lue. After James logged 27 minutes in last night’s blowout win against the Detroit Pistons, Lue had words for those worrying about how much the Cavs’ star is playing, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com:
“Yeah, I hear about that all the time,” Lue said. “I played with Michael Jordan when he was 39 he played 37 minutes a night. Karl Malone was 37, played 38 minutes a night, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe. Everybody’s built different. If you’re one of the greats, sometimes you’ve got to play, sometimes you get rest like tonight.”
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James said after Monday’s win: “You make so much a big thing about my minutes. It’s not a huge issue. But at the end of the day, when we can get a win like this, everybody benefits from it. Not just me. Everybody.”
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But James has already passed Jordan in regular-season minutes, and needs just three to pass Shaquille O’Neal (41,918 minutes) for 24th in NBA history.
Factoring in playoffs, James has played 51,043 minutes. Jordan played 48,485 in both the regular season and playoffs over 15 seasons, but he retired twice before he even joined the Wizards. This is James’ 15th season.
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