Despite being two months away from his 40th birthday and in his 22nd NBA season, LeBron James is not planning on monitoring his playing time as the Los Angeles Lakers get ready for their first back-to-back of the 2024-25 campaign.

Speaking to reporters after Friday’s win over the Phoenix Suns, James said “I plan on playing every game” this season after saying he will play on Saturday against the Sacramento Kings.

James played 35 minutes in the 116-113 win over the Suns. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, eight assists and four rebounds.

There has already been a lot of discussion about the player participation policy at the start of this season.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid recently told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps he will “probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career” in an attempt to ensure he remains healthy for the postseason.

Those comments are at the center of an NBA investigation into Embiid’s status after he was ruled out for the first three games of the season as part of his ramp-up to game activity.

There’s no indication that Embiid suffered any sort of setback from the knee injury he dealt with last season. He appeared in five games for Team USA during the Olympics over the summer, averaging 11.2 points and 3.8 rebounds to help the U.S. win a gold medal.

James didn’t specifically reference Embiid, but he has made a point of playing as much as possible since the start of last season. The four-time MVP played 71 games last season, his most since starting all 82 for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017-18.

This could also be a response to the start of last season when then-Lakers head coach Darvin Ham tried to implement a minutes restriction on James to preserve his body for the entire season.

That plan lasted for a grand total of one game. James had no problems making it through the 2023-24 season. He knows his body better than anyone, so there’s no chance he will do anything that put himself at long-term risk of an injury.

The vibes are good for James and the Lakers right now. They are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2010-11 season when they won 57 games.

Los Angeles will host the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

LeBron James says he will play the second leg of the back-to-back tomorrow and added, “I plan on playing every game” pic.twitter.com/BtSPaDo9Ft

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 26, 2024