Lakers superstar LeBron James has been recalled from his G League assignment with South Bay and will be a full participant in Monday’s practice, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who says the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is nearing his season debut (Twitter link).
James went through at least two practices with the Lakers’ NBAGL affiliate over the past handful of days, including doing contact five-on-five work, and reportedly showed no ill effects afterward.
This will be James’ first practice with the Lakers in 2025/26, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Charania reported about a month ago that James was targeting a mid-November return from the nerve issue — sciatica on his right side — that has caused him to miss training camp, the preseason, and the first 14 games of the season. Charania’s ESPN colleague Dave McMenamin recently wrote that James could make his season debut this week, possibly on Tuesday vs. Utah.
When he suits up, James will set a record by playing in his 23rd NBA season.
The Lakers have gotten off to a strong start to the season in James’ absence, currently holding a 10-4 record.
James, who extended his own NBA record by making his 21st consecutive All-NBA team in 2024/25, could see that streak come to an end in ’25/26 due to the 65-game rule. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan hold a three-way tie for the second-most All-NBA appearances with 15 apiece.
The 40-year-old forward, who also made his record-extending 21st straight All-Star appearance in ’24/25, remained highly productive last season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 70 games (34.9 minutes per contest). His shooting slash line was .513/.376/.782.
However, James’ ’24/25 season ended in disappointing fashion as the Lakers were ousted by Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs and he suffered an MCL sprain late in the final game.
James opted into his $52.6MM player option over the summer. He holds a no-trade clause and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
talk about pressure. Lakers are doing very good without him. If they play worse with him does that mean he gets traded?
Since it’s the weekend, let’s run this one more time……
“THE PULSE OF THE HRC (Hoops Rumors Commenters)”, Installment No. 1……….
Let’s go ahead and take the pulse of the HRC, shall we? On a scale of 1 to 5 (‘5’ being your excitement level is “through the roof”), how excited are you to see LeBron James return to the Lakers and begin his 23rd season in the NBA as a player?
NOTE: decimal points may be used
ADDITIONAL NOTE: I will not be participating in this installment
Some interesting Lakers stats:
1. The Lakers are 10-4, and 10 of their 14 games were against teams with a winning record.
2. Missed Games: Bron 14, Luka 4, AR 3, Smart 4.
3. The Lakers have the third easiest remaining strength of schedule.
This team should host at least first round in playoffs and are real contenders if healthy!