Walton says Lakers shortening rotation, likely indicating heavy LeBron minutes

The Los Angeles Lakers went all out in a losing effort on Friday night against the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks. While they had moments where they led, they’ll have to settle with playing again this evening in Phoenix.

And according to head coach Luke Walton, that means the Lakers will continue to go with a shorter rotation than usual.

Here’s Walton’s comments on the rotation from Christian Rivas of Silver Screen and Roll 

“We’re going to shorten down the rotation a little bit, but we’re going to keep giving guys chances out there to see if someone’s having a night and that’ll change from game to game. Hopefully we’ll get Zo back at some point and he can be another piece to help us, but we’re shortening down the rotation for now,” Walton said.

After Walton’s comments, the word got to LeBron James. His answer to a question about continuing to play big minutes, after racking up 39 on Friday, was in line with the usual answers when pressed about his minutes.

LeBron James doesn't think he will necessarily have to play the kind of minutes he played against Milwaukee (39) all the way down the last 20 games. "I think the coaching staff and Luke will make the proper subs throughout the course of the game, see how the game's going. pic.twitter.com/BcsMYVqLUu

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) March 2, 2019

Basically, he deferred the topic to make it Walton’s call rather than his. We have seen an increase in minutes for James since his return from injury, averaging nearly 39 minutes per game despite an overall season average of 35.4, the lowest of his career. But when he’s asked about it, he usually doesn’t suggest the minutes load matters to him.

With the Lakers on a back to back in Phoenix, tonight’s game might be an exception to Walton’s rule about shortening the rotation.  It also helps that they’re the league’s worst team.