The Los Angeles Lakers got back in the win column on Friday night with a 128-121 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. L.A. got the win despite missing Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent, with head coach JJ Redick turning to Jake LaRavia and Jaxson Hayes for more expanded roles. LeBron James was one of the heroes of the night for the Lakers.
He finished with 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and six assists. It was one of LeBron’s best games of the 2025-26 season thus far, and among the best showings of the James and Luka Doncic duo, as the Slovenian star dropped 34 points, six rebounds and eight assists in the winning effort.
The Lakers have needed LeBron to step up in the absence of Reaves, and Redick was ecstatic to see that type of performance from the now-41-year-old star.
“Yeah, he did; he was phenomenal,” Redick said. “There was just a few stretches there where they made runs and the response from him. It felt like nearly every time we needed a bucket, he just willed, whether it was driving the basketball, getting into the paint, getting to two feet and he just was phenomenal tonight.”
James spoke about his performance in the win, attributing some of it to having two full days off between L.A.’s last loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday and Friday night.
“I mean a couple days helped. We did come in the morning of the 31st, got some work in and then had the rest of that day off and then yesterday we had off. But [I] got a great workout in this morning. I felt pretty good about how I felt physically and mentally. So, [I] try to give what I got.”
At this stage, it has become increasingly unlikely that James is going to give these types of performances every single night. He picks and chooses his battles, and focuses more on being a distributor when the game script calls for it. But it’s important for the Lakers’ success that — when needed — he can still provide efficient scoring pop.
LeBron James gives advice to 18-year-old self after turning 41
James turned 41 years old on Dec. 30 — when the Lakers lost to the Pistons — and immediately became the first player in NBA history to score 30 points in a game after turning 41. He looked back on the last 23 years and gave some advice to his teenage self.
“It’s a lot of advice I would give him. I would just say keep the main thing the main thing,” James said on his 41st birthday. “Work hard. There’s no substitute for hard work. Hard work and dedication, if you want to be great, is going to pay off. Keep the blinders on. As much as they praise you, it’s even triple, quadruple of people trying to bring you down and want to tear you down every single day. Protect your family. Protect your mental space. That’s a lot more. Just go out and have fun. Enjoy the ride because you never know when it comes to an end. It goes fast.”
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