Draymond Green believes LeBron James plays too much.
The Golden State Warriors star on Wednesday told USA TODAY’s Sam Amick the Cleveland Cavaliers should fret over how many minutes James has played in the early stage of the 2017-18 NBA season. James’ 38.1 minutes per game currently leads the NBA and is his highest average since 2010-11. Green believes the minutes will eventually take their toll on the 32-year-old James.
“So my concern would be that LeBron is playing so many minutes right now,” Green said. ““Yeah, he’s super-human but eventually his super-human powers go away, so that would be more of my concern if I’m a Cavs fan or somebody with the Cavs or a player, is like ‘Man, he’s been playing a lot of 40-minute (nights) and it’s only Nov. 12.’ But I wouldn’t be pressing the panic button just yet. At the end of the day, they know how to win. They’ve got a guy who knows how to win, so I wouldn’t necessarily press the panic button. I would see certain things and I would panic about those certain things, just because … I don’t think nobody should be playing 40 minutes a game in November.
The Cavs lost seven of their first 12 games but have since won their last three, largely through James’ herculean efforts. Green suspects James might tire due to this heavy lifting later in the season, much to the Cavs’ detriment.
“I don’t know who it is (deciding how much James plays),” Green said. “But at the end of the day, if he’s doing it he’s doing it for a reason. He’s not just doing it because (he wants to). That’s tough. That’s tough mentally also. That would be more of my concern over them not playing well. Like, (expletive), it’s Game 13. Who cares who’s playing well? Also, you could be playing great in Game 13 and by Game 30 you could be some (terrible team).”
If James ever felt like he’s running out of points to prove in his 15th NBA season, Green just gave him another one.
