LeBron James "just loves to hoop", but has acknowledged the importance of only playing when he is fully fit.

James, who turns 35 next month, has enjoyed a stellar, 17-year NBA career across spells at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and, currently, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Fellow superstar Kawhi Leonard signed for the Lakers' city rivals the Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason, after helping the Toronto Raptors to the championship in 2018-19.

Three-time All Star Leonard has stressed the importance of "load management" over recent campaigns, and the subject of how much rest should be afforded to NBA players came to the fore again when the 28-year-old sat out the Clippers' recent clash with the Milwaukee Bucks.

However, James - who has clocked up 46,551 regular-season minutes and 10,049 postseason minutes - has insisted his love of basketball means he will always play when possible, but added he has learned to manage his body as his career has gone on.

"Me, personally, if I'm hurt and if I’m not able to play and I feel like I'll hurt my team, then I won't play. That's the [arrangement] me and my coaching staff have always had," 15-time All Star James told Yahoo Sports.

"You can talk to any of my coaches throughout the course of my career. They get mad at me because I don't like sitting down. You can ask anybody.

"They'll be mad as hell at me because I won't sit down. I just love to hoop, but I've also been fortunate enough to take care of my body, except for last year and a couple of years where I maybe had a couple of bumps and bruises or the last game before the season and we're getting ready for the postseason and you'll take that game off, but you're doing that because you don't want to risk anything going into the postseason.

"I just love to hoop, personally."