I was a sportswriter in Wheeling, W.Va. So I was covering a lot of high school sports — football, basketball, tennis, golf, volleyball, you name it.

Here’s your latest NBA Rewind! One of the big stories of the season is how impossible the Western Conference seems to navigate. The New Orleans Pelicans have dealt with so many injuries that their disastrous season has left them out of the mix and alleviated some of that traffic jam in the standings.

It’s not the same dynamic that James currently faces, because he still is playing at an All-Star caliber level. That puts the onus on James to continue managing his body so that he’s both available and remains one of the NBA’s best players. That also puts the pressure on the Lakers to surround James with a championship-caliber roster.