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LeBron James Takes Big Step on Path Toward Season Debut With Lakers
The Lakers and LeBron James have awaited the superstar’s debut to his 23rd NBA season as he dealt with sciatica in his right side. Los Angeles is returning home from a lengthy five-game road trip and they hope James can join them in game action soon.
James, 40, was assigned to the South Bay Lakers, the franchise’s G League affiliate, while the Lakers were on the road so he could get five-on-five practice reps to ramp up for his season debut. As the Lakers wrapped up their road trip Saturday in Milwaukee, it appears all is on track for James to get back on the court soon following a big step in his recovery.
According to a Sunday report from ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, James was reassigned to the Lakers from South Bay, and he will be a full participant at Lakers practice on Monday ahead of the team’s game Tuesday against the Jazz. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported James was a full participant in G League practices without experiencing any lingering soreness and pain from his injury.
The Lakers are 10-4 to start the 2025-26 campaign as Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have starred. Dončić scored 41 points in L.A.’s win over the Bucks Saturday and is averaging a league-high 34.4 points per game this season. Reaves is averaging 28.3 points a night, with his strong start to the season highlighted by a 51-point performance in a win over the Kings on Oct. 26.
Nevertheless, L.A. looks forward to James’s return, especially with recent injury woes. Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart missed the Lakers’ most recent game, which helped pave the way for James’s son, Bronny, to make the second start of his young career. Reaves joked it was “awesome” that Bronny started in the NBA while LeBron was assigned to the G League.
That’s not the case any longer with James’s reassignment back to the Lakers, and his season debut appears to be right on the horizon.
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Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.