LeBron James has missed the first eight games of the Lakers‘ season and will remain on the shelf for at least a few more, but he’s making progress toward his return to the court, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter video link).
“LeBron James has been working out individually, and I’ve been told that the next step for him is five-on-five live play,” Charania explained.
Charania adds that James will not be traveling with the team on its five-game road trip that starts in Atlanta this weekend, following Wednesday’s game against the Spurs. It’s not certain if that live action would occur with the team’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, who will be practicing in El Segundo, California, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, or if James will rejoin the team once it returns from the road trip on November 15.
As ESPN’s Malika Andrews notes in her conversation with Charania, this would indicate that the earliest James would return is November 18 against the Jazz.
The Lakers have started the season 6-2 entering Wednesday’s game against the Spurs, despite playing without not only James but also Luka Doncic, who has missed four of the team’s eight games.
McMenamin notes that once James appears in his first game, he will officially become the first player to play 23 seasons in the NBA.
Retire, bum. Stop stealing money.
40 year old year 23 LeBron is currently better at his job then you will every be at anything in your entire life.
Yes, you know all. Dude can’t even play.
Lakers have had crazy amount of injuries to start the season and still have the second best record in the West. Ayton, Smart and LaRavia have been awesome additions.
At full strength, with the second best player in the league Luka (maybe best by the time the season ends), Reaves and Bron leading the charge, the Lakers are legit contenders to take it all.
Luka will never clear Joker or Giannis, grow up. He plays zero defense. Even Curry was a 2x steals leader in his prime. Wemby also destroys Luka.
Luka is top 10 for sure. He is truly elite and one of the games’ best. But he will never crack top 3 unless he averages 40 PPG or something.
First, he has been ranked top three several years in a row. He is the only player in the past 6 years to have 5 time first team All NBA besides Giannis.
Have you been watching the Lakers? Luka has been playing very good defense. He had 5 steals and 2 blocks last night. He has averaged 2 SPG this year, along with 11 rebounds (plus 9.2 APG). 10 of those rebounds are defensive, which is another defensive stat. He has also been guarding very well. Much more active on defense.
Wemby destroys Luka? Wemby is 0-5 against Luka.
Listen, it’s not your fault you’re mentally challenged. It’s my fault for taking a challenged person seriously enough to respond.
Lakers are off to a 7-2 start. If Lebron joins them and then shortly after, they are 10-10…we all know who the problem is.
The only All-NBA player with a negative +/-. Washed.
Like others said about Klay, Lebron is best used in limited minutes. I would tell him he’s avg 25 MPG this year and try and maximize his value. Making him play long minutes is just going to make things worse.
Lakers lineup could just go somewhere, but maybe just not “there”. If we look closely at the situation, there are many that better fits for them now than Lebron because Lebron plays the same as luka.
Just imagine this lakers with KD or Adebayo. Or Lauren Markannen, JJJ, or even Zubac.😃
Trade the Lebron and his kid and the Lakers will be a contender…