LeBron James May Join Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler At Playing Center Occasionally
The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers are both dealing with injuries at the center position.
They both also have versatile players who have proven they can handle playing out of position if needed. A few days after Heat coach Erik Spoelstra utilized Jimmy Butler at the five, Lakers coach Darvin Ham is considering doing the same with LeBron James.
The Lakers, who are 0-5, lost Friday to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They played without injured center Anthony Davis.
"We went small toward the end of the game," Ham said. "That's another lineup I'm going to pay close attention to, take good looks at LeBron at the five."
The Heat took a similar approach in Wednesday's loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors. They were playing without injured centers Omer Yurtseven and Dewayne Dedmon. It left Spoelstra with limited options behind starter Bam Adedayo, so he turned to Butler.
"We played him at every position and officially at the five," Spoelstra said. "He played all the positions defensively and all the positions offensively for us. Every team, every player has to play back-to-backs. He finds a way to play his best in those unique circumstances."
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