To the surprise of very few, the Lakers look set to be without LeBron James for the entire preseason.

LeBron did not practice with the team during the first week of preseason and was only a “modified” participant on Tuesday. Head coach JJ Redick already said at the start of training camp that the team would be cautious with him, which appears to mean he won’t play in the preseason.

On Tuesday, Shams Charnia of ESPN reported that LeBron would be out for the entire preseason, but is expected to play on Opening Night.

In year 23, there really isn’t much of a need for LeBron to take part in the preseason. The biggest benefit would be building chemistry with his teammates, but that isn’t something that can exclusively be built in the preseason. He’ll have games in the regular season to do so

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