SACRAMENTO — When LeBron James plays his 10th minute of the Lakers’ road game against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, he’ll add another NBA record to his resume: most regular-season minutes played.
“You sure know how to make me feel ancient,” James quipped to a reporter after the team’s shootaround at the Golden 1 Center.
James, who is in his 22nd NBA season, entered Thursday having played 57,437 regular-season NBA minutes – just nine shy of current record-holder and NBA/Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 57,446 minutes.
He was already the league’s all-time minutes leader (69,295 combined regular season and playoff minutes), passing Abdul-Jabbar (66,297 combined regular-season and playoff minutes) in a Nov. 27, 2023 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It’s just a commitment to the craft and to the passion and love I have for the game,” James said. “I don’t take much time in the offseason. A little bit more time now, I didn’t take much time in the offseason, no matter if I was making the 10 Finals appearances back to back and just always trying to keep my body in tip-top shape.
“And I’ve been able to play a lot of minutes and for the most part of my career be injury-free and be available. I don’t want to say injury-free. We all have our injuries in this league and in this sport. But to be available for the majority to my teammates, to the three franchises I played for is something I took very seriously.”
James reflected on the mental toll it has taken to play as long as he has.
“It’s not only just the marathon of the season and what happens throughout the course of a season, but also when you, when your family expands, that’s a mental toll as well,” he said. “Leaving home and seeing your kids grow and seeing them now that they’re doing their individual things and you happen to miss a lot of the things that you wish you was there, that pays a toll as well.”
James returned from a two-game absence in the Lakers’ home win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night, spending about a week away from the team to refresh his mind and his body during an eight-day stretch in which the Lakers only played two games.
The four-time league MVP played with a notable uptick in energy on both ends of the floor in his return against the Grizzlies.
He entered Thursday as questionable because of left foot soreness – the same ailment that caused him to miss the Dec. 8 home victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and the Dec. 13 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I’m just not a guy that likes to sit games, if I’m somewhat healthy,” James responded when asked if he’ll be more aggressive with trying to find pockets in the season to rest. “It doesn’t matter. It’s never been my thing, but I see what you’re saying and if there’s an opportunity where it could benefit my body and benefit my play long-term for the better of the team, then I’m always open to having that conversation. So we’ll see what happens.”
James, who has made a record 20 NBA All-Star appearances, didn’t elaborate on his opinions about the change in the All-Star Game format.
The league announced earlier in the week that it’s once again shifting away from the traditional East-West format and will feature a mini-tournament with four teams and three games starting with the 2025 All-Star Game in San Francisco on Feb, 16.
“We’ll see when we get there,” he said. “It’s different. Obviously, any time you make some type of change it’s gonna be some buck back. I don’t know. I mean, I have my ideas of what could possibly work.
James added: “You got to do something. Obviously the last couple of years have not been a great All-Star Game that Sunday night. But I mean, listen, it’s a bigger conversation. It’s not just the All-Star Game. It’s our game in general.”
When asked what he meant, James responded: “There’s a lot of [expletive] 3s being shot. So it’s a bigger conversation than just the All-Star Game.”
James didn’t provide any further comments on what he meant.
“I can’t do that today, not in Sacramento,” James said. “Sacramento, I love you guys, but you can’t get this conversation today. It’s just a bigger conversation.”