LeBron James made his 2025-26 season debut on Tuesday night, and many fans thought they were watching a different Los Angeles Lakers legend by the end of the game.
James had a game-high 12 assists in the Lakers’ 140-126 win over the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif. LeBron scored 11 points, which marked one of the very few times in his career he has had more assists than points in a game.
The performance led to a bunch of fans making the same joke, which is that LeBron turned into Magic Johnson while James was recovering from his injury.
LeBron in his first game with the Lakers this season pic.twitter.com/S53eskoScc
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) November 19, 2025
LeBron has regressed into 1990 Magic Johnson
— Old NBA Tweets (@oldnbatweetz) November 19, 2025
Lebron after not playing NBA hoops for 6 months: pic.twitter.com/nhlzqdmXSr
— The Pettiest Laker Fan 🤫 (@ThePettiestLA) November 19, 2025
40 yr-old LeBron looking like Prime Magic in his debut 🪄 pic.twitter.com/SB70bukKx7
— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) November 19, 2025
LeBron at 41 is the equivalent of Magic Johnson at 27 pic.twitter.com/tZ6kaYPSZb
— Ball Don’t Lie (@ReversePivot180) November 19, 2025
LeBron played 30 minutes on Tuesday night and seemed to get more comfortable as the game progressed. He had 6 assists in the fourth quarter alone, and they all came on consecutive possessions.
James missed the start of the season because of sciatica in his right side. While it is difficult to draw conclusions from one game, his performance against the Jazz could be a sign of things to come for the Lakers. Luka Doncic scored 37 points in the game and Austin Reaves scored 26. Doncic leads the NBA with 34.6 points per game, while Reaves has averaged 28.1.
In his record 23rd NBA season, LeBron might be best served acting as more of a facilitator most nights. That was a role he was willing to play in his 2025-26 debut.