Don’t worry, LeBron James will not be missing this game; the Los Angeles Lakers will be playing here on Saturday night at a full Target Center.

Not in the first half of his 21st NBA season, another historic moment for the amazing Ironman of the NBA, on his 39th birthday.

LeBron did not play in the back-to-back games on December 21st, when the Lakers were in Minneapolis following their game in Chicago the night before. James was already facing an extra game from the NBA—the inaugural in-season tournament final in Las Vegas on December 9 (L.A. 123, Indiana 109)—and he was playing a lot of minutes.

Arriving here, he has missed three of the Lakers’ thirty-two games while averaging twenty-one points, seven assists, thirty-four minutes, and high percentage shooting (53.9% overall and 41.3% on threes).

When asked about LeBron, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch responded, “He’s a big, powerful man, always playing big minutes, and he managed to stay injury-free for the majority of his career.” LeBron engages in play. That’s just another illustration of his greatness given the current state of the league.”

It’s good for Finch and the Wolves that the Lakers had him miss last week’s back-to-back games. They had to hang on for a 118-111 victory after going into reckless mode late in the game against the LeBron-less Lakers.

On Thursday night, they exceeded that, seemingly slipping into a reckless mentality as soon as they found out Luka Doncic would not be playing for Dallas. Even with 22 turnovers and no perimeter defense, these gifted Wolves were unable to give up the victory, which kept them atop the Western Conference at 23-7 with a 118-110 victory.

With LeBron in the Lakers’ starting lineup, they ought to heed the advice to tighten up. The Lakers discovered something that could work for their post-season competition:

LeBron will start as the primary ballhandler and our old friend D-Lo, also known as D’Angelo Russell, the purported point guard, will come off the bench in Thursday’s game against Charlotte. The stars took a nap in the fourth quarter as they destroyed the Hornets 133–112.

Regarding “playing adds to his greatness,” LeBron’s performance on Saturday will rank 1,451 during the regular season, placing him eighth all-time. However, after this season, he is expected to rank fifth.

With 282 playoff games already, he leads the field by a wide margin. That’s an additional three and a half seasons, and eight straight finals visits from 2011 to 2018, half with the Heat (two titles), half with the Cavaliers (one trophy).

In the COVID-19 bubble for the Lakers in 2020, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer also took home the championship. For James, that was Game 10 of the NBA Finals.

Most years, this warrior of the court competed until late June. After that, he spent the summer playing for three Olympic medal teams: the bronze squad in 2004 and the gold squad in 2008.

There’s no point in fighting the Michael-LeBron issue because James has already played 378 more regular season games and 103 more playoff games than Jordan, and the Michaels will never accept LeBron as an equal.

Playing at a high level much more frequently has to mean something.

“LeBron is way more competitive than some people give him credit,” Finch stated. “LeBron is right up there, but everyone speaks about how competitive Jordan was—she was constantly in the forefront.

The fact that he is still performing at this high level at this stage of his career is amazing. Above all, he has achieved immense success.”

When James was selected in the third round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of nearby Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Finch was leaving his position as coach of the Sheffield Sharks in England to take over the Giessen 46ers in Germany.

Finch had to wait an additional eight years to join the NBA as an assistant in Houston and witness “King James” up close.

“How many seasons for him now … 21?” said Finch. “He always makes the right play, just watch him.” For it, he was criticized at one point. Still, he stuck to his principles: pass if it’s the best play.

As a player, he has developed. And he’s come to terms with that, changing his approach to stay exceptional.”

The statement that I made was, “LeBron’s done everything imaginable without being a great pure shooter.”

“Maybe, but in the biggest moments, he makes those shots,” Finch responded.

On Saturday night, spectators at Target Center will have a unique opportunity: at some point, they will be able to spontaneously sing “Happy birthday, LeBron” in honor of one of the greatest athletes of all time.