Don't expect to see LeBron James on the court much as the NBA preseason starts up.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said while James will play a little bit, the team would rather conserve him for the regular season.
"We want to be intelligent," Vogel said on playing James during the team's six-game exhibition. "We want to get him enough reps to get him familiar with his teammates and get everybody on the same page, some cohesiveness. But certainly going to be intelligent and not overdo it in the preseason."
James, 34, is entering his 17th season in the league, is in his second season with the Lakers and is starting his first year under Vogel, who was hired by Los Angeles after Luke Walton was fired last season.
It also will mark Anthony Davis' first year with James and the Lakers after he was traded to Los Angeles in a blockbuster deal in the offseason.
Vogel explained he wants James and Davis to get used to playing with each other while minimising any wear and tear before the regular season starts. He also said he is figuring out the lineup since the Lakers added Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the offseason.
"We saw a mismatch in LeBron and Anthony's team really sort of had their way with the other teams," Vogel said. "We had three teams out there, and those guys really performed at a high level on both ends of the floor."
The Lakers play in their first preseason game next weekend against the Warriors at their new arena in San Francisco, then the team will travel to China to face the Nets in two exhibition games.
"I feel like we're ready to play right now," Vogel said. "We put a lot of stuff in, both offensively with our full offense and the variety of things you can do out of it, as well as a lot of our defensive coverages. We've had a really productive first couple of days, and I'm not worried about us not being ready to play games against Golden State or in China."
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