Lakers Head Coach Headed Towards Disaster With Latest LeBron James Revelation

The Los Angeles Lakers have been doing everything in their power to remain relevant in the Western Conference this season, but head coach Darvin Ham might be going about it the wrong way.

Following their 121-115 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, January 2, Ham told reporters that the Lakers have an asset that they can always rely on to carry them to a victory in the form of LeBron James.

"I just want to ride him. And he allows you to do that because he takes such great care of himself. So, it's a great luxury to have," Ham said about James' impact as quoted by ESPN.

Aside from the weird phrasing of the first sentence that drew the attention of fans on social media, Ham allowed James to take the floor for exactly 39 minutes and 33 seconds–the fifth-highest number of minutes played by him this season.

For context, James is averaging 36 minutes this season and it is the second-highest number of minutes he has played in a Lakers jersey, just behind the 37.2 he logged last season.

While simple math would dictate that playing James more minutes gives the Lakers a bigger shot at winning more games, it severely decreases their chances of success in the postseason since James would likely be too battered and fatigued to keep playing at such a high level.

But at the same time, it can be argued that James playing so much in the regular season is a necessity since the franchise has a shallowly constructed roster that would struggle to compete for a decent playoff seed.

In the end, it is a paradoxical problem that the Lakers and the front office, led by general manager Rob Pelinka, have locked themselves into this season and their way out of the situation is to have their generational talent log heavy minutes.

Take the game against the Hornets for example.

The 14th seed in the Eastern Conference had no business hanging 70 points on the heads of a Lakers team that is dreaming of competing for an NBA title and yet they did so with ease despite not having the services of Kelly Oubre who was in the midst of a career year.

Had the Lakers been more cautious in how they built their roster, they might have found themselves in a better spot than their current placing as a 13th seed in the West–about three to four games off from a play-in seed.

James, who turned 38 on the day of the Hornets game, is not getting any younger.

While fans have grown accustomed to him casually dropping 40 points, Father Time remains unbeaten and "King James" needs help.

With the buyer's and seller's markets expected to return to full swing ahead of the February 9 trade deadline, the Lakers will need to find James some decent pieces that will lessen the load on him as they make a last-gasp push for the playoffs in the second half of the season.