LeBron James looking bouncy at 38, but will sit out Lakers’ preseason opener

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

LOS ANGELES – Out of the corner of his eye, Jaxson Hayes saw LeBron James do something that stunned him, causing the Los Angeles Lakers‘ new big man to cut himself off mid-sentence while talking to the media.

“Oh my gosh,” Hayes said Thursday. “Did you guys just see that? LeBron just threw a crazy bounce alley-oop to himself, like windmill. I was not ready for that. Sorry, that kinda caught me off-guard.”

As for Lakers fans, they’ll have to wait a little longer to see James in action.

James said Thursday that he will not play in the team’s first preseason game against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

“Six preseason games, so hopefully I can get to at least half of them,” James said. “But we’ll see. I think every game will dictate it. I will not be playing in Saturday’s game, that’s for sure, in The Bay. But we’ll see after that.”

Nearing his 39th birthday in December, James is now the oldest active player in the NBA, something that apparently even shocks him.

In a video posted by the NBA on Twitter on Thursday, James was asked to react to that information. He put his hands next to his face, shrieked like the “Home Alone” scene and ran away. The next clip was of him throwing down a one-handed dunk.

Last season, James became the league’s all-time leading scorer and shattered stats for a player in his 20th season, averaging 28.9 points on 52.4 percent shooting, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists. He led the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by the eventual-champion Denver Nuggets.

Lakers coach Darvin Ham said he plans to ease James into his 21st season.

“The beautiful thing about the way we move forward is one, he’s in phenomenal shape,” Ham said. “Two, he’s probably got more years in experience outside of AD [Anthony Davis] than the entire team combined in terms of games played and minutes played. And he takes phenomenal care of himself. Just kind of easing into it, and the fact that our roster is what it is, he doesn’t have to come start the season with his cape on, so to speak.”

James missed 27 games last season, including 13 straight because of a right foot injury. He said during Lakers Media Day on Monday that he “pretty much tore the whole tendon” on his right foot, but added that it “has been reacting very well on my offseason workouts.”

When asked if James has his burst back following that injury, Ham didn’t hesitate.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Without question.”

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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