Deciding to play in preseason games is a luxury that is typically afforded to a team’s top players.
In the NFL, teams do not typically play their starters much during the preseason due to injury risks.
The NBA also tends to be precautionary with their best players, although they usually see some court time.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ first preseason game is on October seventh against the Golden State Warriors.
Ahead of this matchup, LeBron James has already indicated that he will not be participating, per Mark Medina via Spectrum SportsNet.
.@MarkG_Medina, @geeter3, & @Mike_Bresnahan speak on LeBron James missing the first preseason game on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/M9bNgedEgV
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 6, 2023
While he will not be participating in this contest, James has noted that he would like to appear in three preseason games.
The Lakers have five other preseason games in preparation for the upcoming year.
One of the remaining five games is another matchup with the Warriors, and another is with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Warriors are slated to be competing for the top spot in the Western Conference alongside the Lakers.
As for the Bucks, they have recently added Damian Lillard to their squad in hopes of making a deeper run in the East.
James could be active in both of these games, getting some work against two of the league’s top teams.
At 38 years old and the NBA’s all-time leader in points, James has earned league-wide respect due to his career efforts.
If he tells the Lakers staff that he does or does not want to appear in a preseason game, they’ll do everything to make his request possible.
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