Lakers’ LeBron James ‘progressing’ toward season debut

LeBron James may be returning to the court soon. 

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that the Lakers star “progressing to live 5-on-5 reps in practice” will be the “next step” toward his season debut. 

James has yet to play in the 2025-26 NBA season as he deals with sciatica in his lower back and right side. 

He is expected to miss Los Angeles’ upcoming five-game road trip, which starts on Saturday in Atlanta, but could take the court Nov. 18 when the Lakers host the Jazz, accoring to Charania. 

“Obviously, this thing has to continue to progress with all of his return-to-play protocols,” Lakers head coach J.J. Redick said. “So we don’t have, like, a target date. It’s just somewhere in that general timeline. We hope that he’s kind of checked all the boxes and is going to be back sometime in that second or third week in November.”

When the injury was first reported in October, James was reportedly eyeing a mid-November return and planning to take “a patient approach” to his sciatica recovery.

James, who turns 41 in late December, is entering his 23rd season in the NBA, which will be a league record once he takes the floor this season. 

Despite James’ absence, the Lakers are off to a red-hot start. 

Heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama, the Lakers were a surprising 6-2 with The King on the bench. 

Luka Doncic has been ridiculous when in the lineup, averaging 41.3 points with 11.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists in four games played entering Wednesday night. 

His emerging sidekick, Austin Reaves, is enjoying an early breakout, scoring 31.1 points per game with 9.3 assists in seven contests.