LeBron James made it through a full practice with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, completing a full 5-on-5 run for the first time at their El Segundo, Calif., facility since last season ended.
James missed training camp and suited up for a full practice with an eye on playing for the first time this season in what is Game 15 for the Lakers. But his availability could go right up to tipoff with the Utah Jazz because of the variables and nature of the sciatic condition impacting his lower back, hip and right side.
“We’ve been taking it literally one minute, one hour, one step at a time throughout this whole process,” James said. “So, see how I feel this afternoon, see how I feel tonight. When I wake up in the morning, we’ll probably have shootaround. So, just got to see how the body responds over the next 24 hours-plus.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick did not commit to playing James even if he feels ready on Tuesday afternoon. He chuckled when sharing James introduced himself to the team during film session as a “new player” trying to break into the rotation with the 10-4 Lakers.
While James has watched from the sideline, Luka Doncic has led the NBA in scoring at 34.4 points per game. Guard Austin Reaves is a surprising ninth leaguewide at 28.9 ppg, but he said he’s more than ready to make room for James.
“I guarantee you, if you ask basically our whole team, a lot of the young guys would say he is their favorite player ever,” Reaves said. “So his presence, his ability to lift up a team and obviously his IQ … it’s just, it’s good to have him back.”
This is the second bout of sciatica for James, who revealed a struggle with pain from the nerve-related condition in the 2023 offseason.
There’s also the challenge of getting back into basketball shape. James said his lungs were heavy — “like a newborn baby” — after getting up and down the court on Monday, and he self-prescribed a regimen of “tea and rest.”
“If you ain’t never had it, and people are making jokes about it, I pray you never get it,” James said. “It’s not fun.
“You wake up one day and you hope that when you step down from the bed that you don’t feel it. You go to bed at night. And you hope that when you’re in the bed that you don’t feel it. So, I’ve been doing pretty good with it as of late.”
