As the old saying goes, the best ability is availability.
If there was ever a player who could be afforded some leeway on his availability, it would be a 41-year-old LeBron James in his 23rd season in the NBA. However, while LeBron has missed games this season, they’ve been a result of an injury and very rarely, if ever, a result of old age.
Repeatedly throughout the year, LeBron has suited up on the second night of a back-to-back. Even after long travel, grueling games or on nights when sitting out would
be understandable, LeBron has taken the court.
And his teammates are taking notice.
On Thursday, less than 24 hours after a win in Houston, LeBron returned to the court in Miami and broke his own record as the oldest player with a triple-double to help the Lakers to their eighth straight win. But even as impressive as the performance was, his fellow stars saw him suiting up as motivation to get on the court as well.
All three of LeBron, Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić were listed as questionable hours before the game. But once LeBron was a go, the other two followed suit.
“When [LeBron] says he was playing,” Reaves said, “I was like, ‘I can’t let a 41-year-old play and I not play.’ So, I signed up to play and so did Luka and we went and grinded a win out. That’s not an easy one, especially with the pace that team plays at. ”
The Heat play at the league’s fastest pace, making an already challenging game even more difficult. Understandably, the Lakers looked slow out of the gate early in the contest.
But when head coach JJ Redick offered up the out of the team being tired, LeBron set the tone for the rest of the game.
“He’s a psycho. He’s a psycho,” Redick said of LeBron. “For LeBron, Luka, [Reaves], [Marcus] Smart, they’re battling the heavy minutes and the workload of what they’re required to do every night. The four of them all just were playing.
“To me, I always talk about different ways you can lead. That’s just leadership right there. I think LeBron, in the same way Luka willed it for us tonight, LeBron willed it for us tonight.”
No matter if he’s the most talented player on the court or not, and he definitely isn’t at this point in his career, LeBron’s presence alone carries weight. The team can still be very good without him, as we’ve seen. But having him on the floor and playing at the level and in the role he has been of late gives the team a little more juice.
And when those performances come on a night when even some of the league’s stars would sit out, it can help swing a game that was seen as a foregone conclusion of a loss to another win to tack onto the streak.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
