LeBron James Talks Minutes, Championship Goal and More Ahead of Lakers Debut

Although the Los Angeles Lakers are considered a notch behind some other teams in the Western Conference heading into the season, LeBron James still says his goal is winning a title.

"I want to win championships and putting my mind into that and thinking about it," James said Thursday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. "I think when you have championship habits, you have championship thoughts, and things come into fruition." 

He has won three titles already in his career and has gone to the NBA finals in eight straight seasons with the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, he joined an organization that hasn't had a winning record in any of the last five years. While there is clearly talent on the roster, especially with young players like Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma, knocking off the Golden State Warriors as well as the rest of the loaded Western Conference will be a challenge.

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old isn't planning on slowing down personally as he approaches his 16th season in the league, telling the coaching staff to keep him in as much as possible.

"I'm always fresh," he added. "All my coaches want to figure out a way of how to lessen my minutes, I keep telling them I'm strong enough to play most minutes but they won't listen to me, so, it's OK. I like it."

James appeared in all 82 games last season for the first time in his career while also leading the NBA in minutes per game for the second year in a row.

While he has put a lot of mileage on his body since entering the league in 2003, he doesn't seem ready to slow down.

Head coach Luke Walton also seems ready to grant this request for his new star player.

"LeBron will play a lot of minutes, yes," Walton said Thursday. "It will be a consistent theme for us this year."