Lakers News: LeBron James Cagey About Availability Vs. Heat

Will King James suit up on the second night of a back-to-back?

Last night, Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James led the club's 129-110 victory over the Orlando Magic with a stellar 28 points on 12-of-24 shooting. He also pulled down seven boards, passed for five dimes, blocked a shot and grabbed a steal.

It's not 60/21/10, but it's still pretty darn great. Though his 14-20 Lakers don't seem headed to the postseason, LeBron James still seems like he's head to Salt Lake City for the 2023 All-Star Game. With All-NBA center Anthony Davis sidelined long-term, it's quite possible James will be his team's only representative there. For the year, the 6'9" forward is averaging 27.8 points on .497/.294/.743 shooting splits, eight rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks a night.

James was asked after the matchup (it sounds like ESPN's Dave McMenamin is inquiring) if he intended to play the second game of L.A.'s back-to-back Florida swing, tomorrow night against the Miami Heat.

James was pretty succinct in his response.

.@KingJames on tonight's win, his availability tomorrow and more. pic.twitter.com/OeZ9iJyfYS

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 28, 2022

"I'll know tomorrow when I get up."

Thus far, the 18-time All-Star has sat out for three of the Lakers' four back-to-back game sets this season. Now just two days shy of his 38th birthday, the four-time MVP remains one of the league's best scorers. But he should never again play in both nights of back-to-back sets.

This was a policy enacted to preserve the bodies of Hall of Fame Spurs big man Tim Duncan and future Hall of Fame shooting guard Dwyane Wade in their respective NBA dotages, and it's been used in the intervening years on other aging stars. It would behoove L.A. to do that with James, because it's running out of healthy All-Stars.