All signs are pointing toward LeBron James making his season debut on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. He went through a full practice with the team on Monday and said, “Got to see how the body responds over the next 24 hours-plus.” He has been officially listed as “questionable,” which is standard for a player returning from injury who is very close to a return.
Now comes a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania that LeBron is “aiming” to make his debut on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena against the Jazz.
Add that to the evidence that Tuesday night will be the night — and once he plays, LeBron will become the first player in league history to reach 23 seasons on the court. By tradition, Lakers’ coach J.J. Redick will likely not make anything official until he has to turn in the starting lineup card 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
Starting in August, LeBron began experiencing sciatica on his right side, which caused him to miss all of training camp as well as the first 14 games of the season. Everyone was cautious with his return.
Last season, LeBron averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game, earning Second Team All-NBA honors and an All-Star selection. There have been questions about how LeBron will fit in a more Luka Doncic-centric offense, but the guess here is very well. LeBron is a high IQ player, he sees defenses blitzing and trapping Doncic more to get the ball out of his hands and dare any other Laker on the floor to beat them. That’s a much riskier strategy when it’s LeBron and Austin Reaves in the 4-on-3 created by doubling Doncic.
We may bet to see what all this looks like tonight.
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