LeBron James sat out the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the Miami Heat on Saturday — his first day off of the season. Given that James said he planned to play every game of the season as long as he was healthy, the game off surprised many. It also apparently didn’t sit too well with James, either.
Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon reports that James “wasn’t thrilled” with sitting out a game while healthy.
Vardon wrote that “James’ is indeed healthy, a source said, and ‘that’s why he wasn’t thrilled with the concept’ of sitting out.”
James is a competitive athlete, which explains why he would not be thrilled about sitting out games to preserve his health. Plus he probably realized it would make it look like he was trying to duck his former team, and yes, the Miami fans did taunt him. But when he’s thinking about his longevity, he probably knows it’s what’s best for him.
Vardon also explains that James sat out because he exerted so much energy in playing 44 minutes during an overtime loss to the Pelicans the night before. The team felt that James’ effort the night before, combined with the team’s late arrival in Miami (5:00 am at the hotel), made the game against the Heat a good time for him to take a day off.
The Cavs entered the season with plans to limit James’ minutes. He’s currently averaging over 36 per game, which is a figure the team would like to reduce.
The Cavs have plans to sit James out of some future games as well. In situations where they have multiple games in a row, he could possibly sit games out. He might miss a game later this month at the end of a long road trip, and there are some times in January the team may ask him to sit out.
Cleveland was blown out 99-84 without James as the team shot just over 36 percent from the field. Maybe James won’t feel as badly about sitting out games once Kyrie Irving comes back, giving them more of a chance to win without him.
