LeBron James, for the first time in his basketball career, had to start a season sitting on the sidelines dealing with his sciatica injury. On Tuesday, he finally made his season debut, suiting up for the Lakers’ matchup against the Jazz.
The atmosphere was electric.
LeBron was back doing his iconic chalk toss pregame, and once the action started, the Lakers continued their winning ways, beating the Jazz 140-126 and extending their winning streak to three games.
LeBron didn’t give his greatest performance
ever, but he was as effective as ever. He ended the game with 11 points and a whopping 12 assists, including six consecutive during the closing quarter.
After the win, he discussed how he was feeling physically after playing in his first professional basketball game in over half a year.
“Wind was a little shaky to begin,” James said. “Obviously that was expected, but as the game went on and on, my wind got a lot better. I caught my second wind, caught my third wind. Rhythm is still coming back, obviously. First game in almost seven months. Everything that happened tonight was as expected. I think the pace versus a team like Utah, who play with a lot of pace, a lot of movement, a lot of cutting and things of that nature, tested us, tested me, obviously. I was happy the way I was able to keep up with the guys.”
LeBron mentioned getting his wind back being a challenge during his first practice with the Lakers earlier in the week. Overall though, if that is how James plays when his wind is shaky, then the best is yet to come for himself and this iteration of the Lakers.
Playing in his record setting 23rd NBA season he was still LeBron. He had the speed needed to get into the paint and the physicality to finish inside. LeBron was patient, made the right plays and looked better and more comfortable playing with his teammates as the game progressed.
“I just thought he played with the right spirit,” head coach JJ Redick said. “Very unselfish all night, was a willing passer, didn’t force it, took his drives and his shots when they were there. The defense is going to pay attention to him, particularly when he has the ball in the post, particularly when he’s putting pressure on the rim, and I just thought he made a lot of great decisions tonight. [It’s] really good to have him back.”
The closing thing to a blemish from LeBron’s first game back was his scoring. James barely cracked double figures in the win, keeping his streak of scoring 10 or more points alive. Still, when you’re talking about the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, one doesn’t have to worry about him figuring out how he’ll contribute more offensively.
That’ll come with time. For now, it’s about stacking healthy days together and getting his conditioning to the highest level possible.
“I thought it was better than expected,” Redick said. “We wanted to keep him around 28 [minutes]. He played 29:37 and he would have been able to finish the game had we needed him, so I thought it was better than expected. But everybody’s different. I don’t expect him getting into peak shape or LeBron shape, I don’t expect it to take long.”
On day one of Year 23, everything is swell. LeBron is back, he’s happy with how he played and the Lakers are still winning. With the team having four days off before they play the Jazz again, he’ll be even more prepared for that contest as he plays in his first road game of the season.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
