Seventeen years of playing the highest caliber level of basketball is a tremendous feat. Doing anything for seventeen years while consistently being at the top of your position/role for that long is an absurd notion even when thinking about the kind of livelihoods we pursue.

For LeBron James, last year was a physical hurdle in an otherwise astonishing career as he dealt with a groin injury that wasn’t fully recovered. As talks of father time surfaced in the off-season, James continued to work himself back in to good health in preparation for the current season. To say that LeBron has surpassed everyones expectations as it relates to his performance on the court this year would be an understatement. LeBron’s spectacular play has obliterated even some of the more optimistic expectations and it has warranted some MVP consideration.

While James’ ultimate goal has more to do with hoisting a championship trophy, some of the conversation around the Lakers regular season success and LeBron’s workload has been laced with talks of load management. While injury prevention and workload management is something that all teams do in varying degrees, the Lakers haven’t necessarily deployed that strategy as much. More importantly, the Lakers have managed to keep James and Davis’ minutes to career lows and while they haven’t really held LeBron out of many games for workload management, James and the Lakers coaches have utilized him in a way that allows him to minimize the strain on himself.

More Than A Point Guard

In the Lakers current offense LeBron has been deployed as the de facto “point guard” and with the goal of that lineup configuration being to maximize his incredible passing ability and court vision, James has catapulted himself to the top of the assist leader board. The part where workload management intertwines with LeBron’s assist totals is found in the details. Usually when you think of assist leaders in the league you think of players who are dominating the ball and driving to create plays for their teammates and for the most part that is how it works. James is no different. A staple of LeBron’s incredible skill his ability to draw additional defenders and find open shooters. In this season’s offense, James has been downright surgical in when he chooses to go from facilitator mode to scorer mode.

The best way to explain what James is doing is to breakdown the amount of effort it takes to do get a bucket on a possession he is involved in. We can consolidate LeBron’s offensive impact down to a few different actions grouped by the effort it takes:

Higher Effort

Isolation Drives

Isolation Post Ups

Screen & Roll Drives

Lower Effort

Screen & Roll Lobs/Kicks

Backcourt Passing (Cutters, Post Ups)

Transition Scoring & Passing

Open Jumpshots

While LeBron’s skill as a player transcends any role designation, he is still human and team’s historically have opted to try and wear him down as much as possible when he tries to score. Double and even triple teams usually await him on his drives and the Lakers have compounded the issues by often playing two traditional bigs. While it comes at the expense of floor spacing, the team has also been at the top of the advanced defensive metrics because the sheer size is overwhelming opposing teams.

But what LeBron has been doing this season to work within the confines of Frank Vogel’s lineup configurations is an interesting story.

Facilitate First

James minutes distribution by quarter this season has been fairly even this season. The Lakers essentially try to get around eight minutes of LeBron in every quarter in some fashion while trying to find ways to stagger Davis and James.

Usage and Assist Data

A common parallel in the data that matches up with the eye test involves James’ usage as a facilitator and scorer. Typically in the 1st and 3rd quarters, LeBron looks to run the offense as a facilitator and find ways to set up his teammates and in the 2nd and 4th quarters he looks for his own scoring (while continuing to set his teammates up where available).



Take a look at the Usage and Assist percentages below:

Usage % By Quarter (Rounded)

1Q - 27%

2Q - 32%

3Q - 28%

4Q - 36%

Assist % By Quarter (Rounded)

1Q - 48%

2Q - 45%

3Q - 53%

4Q - 46%

When you look at the parallel between LeBron’s usage and assist percentages, it becomes a little more clear as to when he switches from facilitator to scorer.

So how does the balancing act help manage LeBron’s workload?

Lets take a look at the assist type splits in his “facilitator” quarters:

Q1 & Q3 - 357 Total Assists

184 - Dunk/Layup Assists (52% of Total Assists in Q1 & Q3)

Now lets take a look at how much effort it takes James to generate those assists. Even though this is just a sample of the 184 assists, notice how many of them fall into the “lower effort” category of assists. Many of his assists involve him just working out of the pick and roll, transition, or some light post up action and making the correct pass based on the defensive coverage. There isn’t much creation that he is having to do out of isolation.

One thing that needs to be clearly understood about James being able to conserve his effort the way he has is that only players with LeBron’s passing ability and IQ are able to play like this.

LeBron makes the correct read and pass almost every single time when he is in facilitator mode and his ability to find his teammates in the smallest windows is a generational talent especially at his size.

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Time To Score

If James spends the first and third quarters setting up his teammates then how do we know that he spends the other two scoring more? Again we can take a dive into the data. Typically LeBron goes to the bench early in the first and third and gets a solo shift without Anthony Davis in the second and fourth quarters.

Frank Vogel has deviated a little bit from this substitution pattern but for the most part it has stayed consistent throughout the season. While we know James’ usage rate increases and assist rate decreases in his “Scorer” quarters his scoring stats help solidify the idea that he looks to score in these situations.

James has attempted 157 more field goals attempts, 94 more free throw attempts, and grabbed 59 more rebounds in his “Scorer” quarters compared to his “Facilitator” quarters.

Even with LeBron’s assist totals dipping in these quarters, he is still finding ways to mix in some of the low effort assists while trying to make optimal score vs pass decisions in isolation play.

The fourth quarter is really where James makes some of his more difficult passes out of his isolation play.

While the pattern of LeBron’s “facilitator” and “scorer” roles should change as the Lakers start increasing his minutes and tightening their rotations once the season resumes, James’ ability to manage his workload without sacrificing chemistry is tremendous.

When the Lakers made the trade for Anthony Davis and overhauled their roster and staff, not many folks in the media penned the Lakers for the kind of success they have had this season. More importantly, many media members expected father time to lay claim to James and his productivity on the court.

However, LeBron yet again, has found a way to stay one step ahead of everyone else, one pass at a time.