What the World Looked Like the Last Time LeBron James Failed to Score 10 Points

Stephen Douglas | 5 Hours Ago

On Jan. 5, 2007 LeBron James scored eight points during a win over the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be the last time he scored single digits in a regular season game until Dec. 4, 2025. / Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

LeBron James was held to eight points on 4-of-17 shooting in a win over the Raptors on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. That's worth noting because it was the first time that LeBron James had been held to a single-digit scoring total since Jan. 5, 2007.

A lot has changed over the last 17-plus years.

LeBron James was only 23 years old

James is 40 years old and the NBA's all-time leading scorer, but way back in January 2007 he was just a 23-year-old who had never been an MVP, never led the league in scoring and had only been to the playoffs once and lost in the second round.

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First Take was Cold Pizza

Skip Bayless, Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson were prominently featured on the ESPN2 program. A few months after LeBron was held to eight points, the show was rebranded to First Take. Stephen A. Smith would not join the show as a regular until around 2012. ESPN’s Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith was canceled the same month that LeBron was held to single-digits.

Peyton Manning had never won the Super Bowl

Manning and the 2006 Colts went on to win Super Bowl XLI over the Bears. / Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

The day after LeBron was held to eight points, the Colts beat the Chiefs 23-8 in the AFC wild-card round. Peyton Manning threw three interceptions, but was just a few weeks away from winning his first Super Bowl.

The iPhone didn't exist

You may know someone who has purchased the new iPhone 17, but the last time LeBron was held to single digits you wouldn't have known anyone who had an iPhone. Literally days after James scored eight points in a win over the Bucks, the first iPhone was officially announced by Steve Jobs. The phone was released on June 29, two weeks after the Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs in LeBron's first trip to the NBA Finals.

The reigning NBA MVP was 8 years old

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was born on July 12, 1998. He would have been eight-and-a-half when LeBron was last held to single digits. Rui Hachimura, who hit the game-winner at the buzzer after LeBron passed up one final chance to get to double figures, was a month away from turning nine. Bronny James Jr. was two.

PS3 and Wii

The Nintendo Wii had just been released in December 2006. The PS3 had been released in November. Shaun Alexander of the Seahawks was on the cover of Madden '07.

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J.B. Smoove wasn't on Curb Your Enthusiasm

Season five of Curb had finished airing in December 2005, which means that Leon Black did not yet exist. J.B. Smoove went on to join the cast and appear on the final seven seasons of the show with the final season airing in 2024.

Ben Stiller was No. 1 at the Box Office

Night at the Museum, which was released on Dec. 22, 2006, was entering its third week at the box office. It made $28.5 million that weekend. It was announced earlier this year that there is fifth movie from the franchise in the works.

There were only three Fast & Furious movies

Tokyo Drift had just been released in the summer of '06 and no one appreciated it, but Justin Lin had arrived to save the franchise. There have been seven more Fast & Furious sequels plus one spin-off between regular season games where LeBron scored fewer than 10 points.

Beyonce Was No. 1 on Billboard

Beyonce's "Irreplacable" was in the midst of a 10-week run as the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was off her second solo studio album. She and Jay Z would not get married until 2008.

Yes, We Had Politics Back Then Too

George Bush was the president. Donald Trump was in between filming seasons six and seven of The Apprentice. At age 66, Nancy Pelosi had just been elected the first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

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