LeBron said he’s in far too good shape to be worrying about minutes.

Getting the best player in the game to join your franchise is exciting, especially if he is still dominating at nearly 34 years old. When Los Angeles added LeBron James to the NBA’s youngest core, they knew it could be a magical pairing. But they also understood it might require James to take on a substantial load, something they wanted to avoid.

The Lakers had one big challenge: managing James enough so he could stay fresh for an eventual championship run. Whether the Lakers were going to compete in year 1 or year 2 of James’ tenure, the fact of the matter was James wasn’t getting any younger. Naturally, James didn’t like people discussing his workload.

James still flinches when people bring up his minutes — a’la what happened at the beginning of the 2023-24 season when the Lakers were supposedly going to keep him to a minutes restriction. You can imagine how James reacted when he was a lot younger: 33 to be exact.

“It doesn’t matter,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Like you guys asked me the other day, ‘Do you feel better after playing 30 minutes compared to playing 40 minutes?’ It’s like, ‘No.’ I work myself all year round to get in tip-top shape all year round. I don’t stop. So I can do whatever. I mean, I played a Game 7 of the Finals, and I damn near played every minute. Last year, I played every single game. Every single game. So, you know, you can kind of slice it how you want it, but I understand what Magic and Kobe are saying, and we have to continue to develop these guys because if we don’t, then long-term, what does that do for our franchise?”

Despite his comments, James seemed supportive of the plan. Then-Lakers head coach Walton was playing James just 34.7 minutes per game, which was a career low for a four-time MVP. Clawing a top 3 seed in the Western Conference entering Christmas Day, the team was making waves. For the first time in years, the Lakers were finally winning. But with James suffering a groin injury at Oracle Arena against the defending champs, the season would soon turn into a mess of epic proportions.

Even Kobe was against LeBron’s heavy workload

Although he had been retired for two years, Kobe Bryant kept his connection to some of the Lakers brass. GM Rob Pelinka used to be his agent during his playing days. Given James’ friendship with Bryant and the Laker legend’s close ties with the organization, he was gladly encouraged and accepted any advice he could get. While Bron wasn’t used to hearing someone close to him call his minutes into question, he understood that Bean’s voice mattered in situations like these.

“I understand the logic behind it,” James said. “I understand what Magic and Kobe are saying because we want to continue to grow the young guys. We want to see how much our young guys can grow and be the best they can be. I mean, Magic and Kobe know who I am. I know who I am. They know what they’re going to get out of me.”

LeBron was no stranger to playing all 48 minutes

While the Lakers weren’t ever going to play a 33, 34 35 … year old LeBron James 48 minutes in any game (maybe excluding the Finals). But No. 23 has shown the incredible ability to play the length of the game numerous times. Perhaps his greatest example was just weeks before he came to play for the Lakers.

The top of James’ hierarchy of career hits are his four NBA titles and Finals MVPs. But a little beneath that, perhaps, was James’ Game 7 performance against the Boston Celtics in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals. Given the many hardships that engulfed his Cavaliers in just the postseason, getting that roster to the NBA Finals — in the fashion in which he did it — was iconic.

Going into an arena where the home team had not suffered defeat in all playoffs, the task ahead would be demanding. James was prepared to give everything: play all 48 minutes (he did).

Without his co-star Kevin Love — and a single breather — James stomped Boston to their first home loss of the playoffs: Scoring 35 points like he just rolled out of bed.

The King’s scintillating Game 7 gift-wrapped his eighth consecutive East title. From the stage, pressure, expectations — even void of having the luxury to sit down for a single second — James was headed back to the NBA Finals.