LeBron James was finally able to make his 2025-26 season debut this past week, helping the Los Angeles Lakers to a comeback win against the Utah Jazz.
James took a couple of quarters to get his rhythm back, but he eventually looked more like himself when he continually found teammates wide open for easy baskets. LeBron finished the night with a double-double of 11 points and 12 assists, looking content to let Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves take care of the scoring.
After the game, James admitted that he was still getting his wind following his long layoff playing basketball but it was expected. At his age and with all the miles on his body, it’s important that the Lakers are cautious with the star as he continues to ramp up.
With Los Angeles off the next few days, they managed to get a practice in and head coach JJ Redick gave a positive update on how James’ body responded.
“Well. He was able to participate fully in practice today,” Redick said on Thursday. “I’m sure there was a little bit of soreness yesterday, but yeah. All good.”
James has now been able to go through a few full practices in the past couple of weeks with no setbacks, so that’s obviously good news for a Lakers team that is finally getting healthy. James had missed the first 14 games of the season, while a mix of veterans such as Gabe Vincent, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura have been in and out of the lineup. Even Doncic and Reaves have missed multiple games, so Los Angeles has done well to stay above water.
LeBron will get the benefit of a couple more days off before the Lakers play against the Jazz again, so hopefully he’s able to use the time to continue to get his wind and rhythm back. Offensively, he looked like he was willing to defer shots to Doncic and Reaves but he’ll surely look to get more aggressive once he’s in a better flow.
Los Angeles’ defense remains a work in progress, but with James back the offense can morph into an elite unit capable of masking their defensive deficiencies.
LeBron James doesn’t understand people questioning his fit with Lakers roster
With the Lakers getting off to a hot start to the regular season, some questioned whether or not LeBron James could still fit in with the roster. However, James admitted he didn’t understand why people questioned his fit as he looked right at home in his first game back.
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