NBANBAOne of the quietest games of LeBron’s career still spoke volumes about his return to the Lakers
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By Michael PinaNov. 19, 2:08 pm UTC• 4 min
No meaningful questions are ever answered in one game, but LeBron James’s record-breaking 23rd-season debut was still a fascinating initial glimpse at how the NBA’s all-time leading scorer would comport himself on a now 11-4 Los Angeles Lakers team that hasn’t really missed him.
On Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz, James played just under 30 minutes, dished a game-high 12 assists, and scored just 11 points on seven shots in a 140-126 Lakers win. There are only two games in his entire career that saw him finish with fewer field goal attempts. The first was against the Houston Rockets more than two decades ago, on his last night as a teenager. LeBron went 0-for-5 and missed the entire second half after catching a stray elbow thrown by Dikembe Mutombo. The second came back in 2021, when he played only 10 minutes before Hawks forward Solomon Hill dived into his leg and caused a high ankle sprain. (James also took just seven shots in a game against the Pistons back in 2021. He was ejected from it a few minutes into the third quarter. You probably remember why.)
So, for those counting at home, LeBron James has never taken fewer shots in a game he finished in his entire career (or, quite possibly, his life) than he did against the Jazz. Forensic analysis is not required to glean how much of an adjustment it will be to work him into the mix. James’s usage rate was 13.5 percent on Tuesday, closer to that of Marcus Smart or Rui Hachimura than Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves. On the very first possession, he jogged to the left corner and was the intended recipient of a skip pass thrown by Doncic that was deflected out of bounds. Almost as soon as he let the ball go, Luka apologized to Reaves, who was wide open.
LeBron James and Luka Doncic in action against the Utah Jazz
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That similar dynamic applied to several half-court possessions when James and Doncic shared the floor: LeBron stood off the ball as a bystander for the entire play. It’s weird to see, but, more likely than not, it’s a good problem with minimal downside for him and the team. LeBron turns 41 years old in six weeks. He isn’t who he used to be and can’t perform at an All-NBA level every night. The Lakers don’t really need that version of him, though. What they could use, instead, is someone who makes sure the offense doesn’t fall apart when Doncic takes a seat. So far this season, when Reaves plays without Luka, L.A.’s offensive rating is 1.1 points below league average Lineups that don’t feature either Doncic or Reaves barely function as an NBA offense.
In the fourth quarter against Utah, LeBron had six assists—including a few pretty ones to Deandre Ayton at the rim—that effectively put the game away. That helped! He’ll find ways to contribute elsewhere, too—driving hard closeouts that come after Luka collapses the defense, injecting the type of gravity Jake LaRavia or Smart simply can’t even if they were shooting 75 percent behind the arc, physically dominating one-on-one coverage out of the post, and so on.
Again, there’s no real big-picture takeaway to be made from one game. LeBron is understandably injury prone at this stage of his career, and there’s so much he and the coaching staff will figure out as the season goes along.
The Lakers opened the second half with a Reaves-LeBron side pick-and-roll that coincided with Doncic coming off a flare screen set by Ayton on the opposite side of the floor. As it unfolded, James whipped a crosscourt pass to Doncic, who was wide open for a 3, but the officials called a three-second violation on Jusuf Nurkic and whistled the play dead. Expect to see more inclusive actions like this going forward.
It’s not even Thanksgiving yet. The Lakers have plenty of time to figure this out. But that doesn’t mean skepticism is unjustifiable. At the end of the day, watching LeBron squeeze himself into a role that doesn’t sit at the top of his team’s pecking order is a jarring sight and more than strange.
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What will crunch time look like? How will LeBron feel if and when he barely touches the ball for a long stint? Will JJ Redick go out of his way to placate the greatest player of his generation, even if it’s not necessarily in the team’s best interest? How will Reaves, whose contract-year concerns should be quelled after everything he did during the first few weeks of this season, feel if the Lakers go on a losing streak and his numbers begin to dip? Can LeBron, who looked a step slow on Tuesday, ultimately help a defense that currently ranks 17th and allowed the Jazz to score 71 first-half points?
If this reads like concern trolling, I promise it’s not! These are legitimate questions about an unprecedented situation that will, at times, feel uncomfortable. It could get messy. It could also be beautiful. James is one of the smartest players who has ever lived. In perpetuity, he deserves the benefit of the doubt on all things related to basketball strategy. But it’ll still be fascinating to see how much he’s willing to sacrifice on a team that’s a step below at least three others in the Western Conference. What anyone else thinks about the Lakers’ ceiling doesn’t matter, though. Does LeBron believe that they can win the title? And if so, how will it affect his approach?
These questions will be answered in the months ahead. For now, with one game in the books, LeBron found a way to fit in, impact winning, and, at times, look like his spectacular self. It was damn good to have him back.