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What’s missing in the Lakers fold? It certainly isn’t feasible to bench LeBron James, as the superstar’s stats this season speak for itself, to resurrect the LA team. Despite that, veteran ESPN analyst Bobby Marks boldly aligned himself with JJ Redick’s idea. The analyst, however, ultimately suggested the Joel Embiid rule to maintain the 4x NBA Champ’s fitness. It’s important to note that this process literally disrupted the Philadelphia 76ers‘ run this season, as they are on a 7-15 run!

Ahead of the season, Joel Embiid shook the NBA world when he said, “I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” in response to his knee injury. Moreover, as part of injury management, many franchises are benching their star players in one of the back-to-backs. But the Lakers, despite having the oldest player in the NBA, haven’t rested him yet.

Notably, it wasn’t until the Sunday game against the Blazers that the team rested LeBron James for the first time in 24 games and it wasn’t a B2B. More importantly, the LA side won it.

Following that, ESPN’s Bobby Marks, ignoring the impact that LeBron James has had on the Lakers, suggested a different approach to Jeanie Buss’ Lakers. Marks said, “I think it gets to a point where maybe you have to sacrifice some games here when we look at it from the rest standpoint as far as resting LeBron James. I know people in that Lakers organization don’t want to hear that right now.” While the panel members had different views, the veteran didn’t seem to budge.

“I don’t think this team is good enough to sustain it.”@BobbyMarks42 on the Lakers decreasing LeBron’s minutes each game. pic.twitter.com/IcLAKkZrg6

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 9, 2024

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Marks further added, “If you’re gonna play him 30 minutes a night, I don’t think this team is good enough to sustain it. If you look at their roster, they have basically eight playable guys right now.” It’s also important to note that Coach JJ Redick was asked about the elephant in the room, and he hinted at something similar on these lines in a presser after a loss.

First of all, it’s important to know that Coach JJ can’t really make decisions for LeBron James. Or can he?

Recently, a debate about playing all 82 games popped up after the Lakers’ loss to the Timberwolves. It was during that stretch when The Chosen One had a bit of a slump and struggled to make shots from the perimeter.

At that time, a reporter asked JJ Redick if it was sustainable for the 22-season-veteran to play all games. The coach responded, saying, “I don’t know if that’s in the best interest of him and us if he does that (playing 82 games) But if he’s feeling well and feeling good and he should play. But we obviously want to manage that as best we can.” 

So, the rookie boss has made it clear that he isn’t sure whether LeBron James should be playing all 82 games. On the same night, a reporter asked LBJ this, and he said, “That’s a goal, but we’ll see. But I don’t. Something I ain’t discussing right now.” 

Now that he has already missed a game this season, will the management make it a routine to bench him often? At least during the back-to-back games? What would you have done?