ATLANTA — Kyle Kuzma had his first interaction with LeBron James a little more than a year ago, when Kuzma was a first-year forward with the Los Angeles Lakers and James was a few months from dragging the Cleveland Cavaliers to another appearance in the N.B.A. finals. Kuzma had reached out by phone, hoping for some tips.

“Just wanted to see how one of the greats takes care of his body and has so much longevity,” Kuzma recalled this week in an interview. “Everybody wants to play basketball for as long as possible.”

So much has changed since that initial conversation. Kuzma and James are teammates now, and Kuzma is experiencing the unique challenges that come with playing alongside one of the game’s behemoths. At the same time, James’s body finally betrayed him this season, which has only heightened the sense of urgency within the organization: The Lakers, who have missed the playoffs for five years running, are not in position for a patient rebuild.

James, at 34, may still be in his prime, but the stakes are already high for a franchise that desperately wants to maximize his time in Los Angeles. And while neither James nor Lakers management has shown much enthusiasm for coaxing along a young core — the Lakers tried to ship half the roster to New Orleans last week — they are stuck in this together. James was supposed to be the savior of a flagship franchise gone astray; salvaging the final months of this year would be a key indicator that he still wields that type of power.